I have to go into a little more detail with the story behind the ball. It was a pretty neat experience. I didn't go to the game, but after Dave told me what happened. Oh how I wish I could've been there to witness it all. It started before Mason even went to the game. He was getting really excited about catching a ball. We were trying to prepare him for this not happening. We told him it doesn't happen very often in hopes that he wouldn't be too disappointed when he came home without a ball.

Mason was sitting in the stands with Dave, Papa Steve and Great Papa Stan. The whole game Mason was talking about catching a ball. When Mason talks, he's not real quiet about it, so everyone around him was well aware that this little kid wanted to catch a ball. After awhile Dave noticed there was an area where a lot of foul balls were being hit. He went over with Mason and stood there for awhile. Nothing came that way, so they went and sat back down.

Mason was still talking about catching a ball, so a little while later, Dave thought Mason and he should go back to that spot. They stood there for a bit and eventually a ball was hit in their direction. Dave ran over to it and caught the ball. He walked over to Mason and dropped the ball in his glove. Dave said the look on Mason's face was one of disbelief. It took Mason a second to realize what just happened and with pure excitement and enthusiasm, Mason raises the ball in the air and yells at the top of his lungs. "WE CAUGHT A BALL!" Dave said that the game was a pretty quiet one. There wasn't much cheering happening, but when Mason raised that ball up and yelled, everyone in the stands cheered for Mason and started clapping. Someone yelled, "Nice catch, Dad!"

Mason told me later that when his dad was running to catch the ball there was another guy going for it too, but "Dad beat him to it!" He also told Dave that when he saw him catch the ball he thought, "Dad is so cool!" What an amazing story. I wish I could've been there to witness it myself. Dave said he thought that Mason, Papa Steve, Great Papa Stan and himself would never forget that moment.