Dodgers to Review Process in Response to Uproar Over Ohtani Home Run Ball

After the Los Angeles Dodgers have been uncovered for his or her chilly remedy of the fan who caught Shohei Ohtani’s first dwelling run as a Dodger, they determined to make issues proper.

The Dodgers reached out to Ambar Roman and her husband, Alexis Valenzuela, Thursday and invited them for an on-field expertise at Dodger Stadium. The workforce additionally stated it’ll overview its ballpark processes for retrieving milestone baseballs.

In an unique interview with Dodgers Nation, Roman mentioned what occurred after she retrieved the milestone baseball from her seat in the suitable subject bleachers: Dodger Stadium safety personnel separated her from Valenzuela, and compelled her to resolve the destiny of the milestone ball she had in her possession.

“Safety got here up and hand-signaled me to go to them. At first, I am pondering I did one thing flawed,” Roman stated. “They stated ‘No, we wish to reward you for catching the ball.’ … They took us all the way down to proper subsequent to the bullpen, the gate, to go in there. That is the place they’d us. At that time, they did not enable my husband or the buddy that we have been with to go together with me. They stated they needed to keep again.”

The invitation from the Dodgers is a nice shock. The incident uncovered a league-wide concern with dealing with milestone balls. There is not a constant protocol in place for learn how to deal with followers who catch the house runs.

Bryant Junco, a Milwaukee Brewers fan, paid for Aaron Choose’s 59th dwelling run ball within the stands. Each Milwaukee and New York personnel denied his authentication request. MLB gives at the least two authenticators per sport, however they sometimes stay within the dugouts and solely authenticate objects on the sphere whose possession may be tracked visually.

Mike Hutcheson is a St. Louis Cardinals fan who traveled to Pittsburgh and caught Albert Pujols’ 703rd profession dwelling run. Cardinals personnel supplied him an autographed ball in alternate for the one he caught. He denied their request, and the ball couldn’t be authenticated below MLB’s current protocols.

“I am truly just a little disenchanted in each the Pirates and the Cardinals as a result of they’ve made completely no acknowledgment (of the catch),” he stated in an interview with WTAE.

MLB has strict tips for a way milestone balls needs to be dealt with.

Sports activities Illustrated described the job of an MLB authenticator in a 2021 story. Their job is to trace and pay attention to every ball that’s discarded, swapped out, or hit out of play throughout the foul territory on the sphere. Authenticators affix a tiny silver sticker, a hologram bearing a novel string of letters and numbers, to its floor. Their file of the ball’s life is logged in MLB’s distinctive system.

As soon as a ball leaves the sphere and its chain of custody cannot be tracked, MLB can’t authenticate it. It is unclear whether or not or not stadium safety personnel are explaining this course of to followers who need their souvenirs authenticated. The one exceptions in latest historical past have been made for the milestone dwelling runs hit by Choose and Pujols.

Hopefully, the Dodgers’ public admission of dealing with the state of affairs poorly will unfold to different organizations and drive the league to create a protocol for these conditions shifting ahead.