Baseball Fan Catches Ball In Beer Then Chugs The Rest Of It

PetcoPark

American sports fans are some of the most committed, crazy and enthusiastic fans out there, often spending more time outside the stadium tailgating than inside watching the game.

And who’s to blame them, especially as the average length of baseball game is almost three hours. Of course, it’s no five day test match like in cricket, but a three hour game can still drag a bit.

So, as most right-minded sports fans are wont to do, many attendees like to enjoy a few drinks at the game. Not to make the time go quicker, of course, but to either drown their sorrows as their team loses or, on the other hand, aid in the exuberant celebrations as their team wins.

Using a drink to catch a foul ball though, isn’t something you see very often at a baseball game. But that’s what one fan recently did during a Padres-Braves game.

Check out the brilliant moment here:

Sitting in the stands with a full drink in hand, Gabby DiMarco deftly caught a foul ball that had been hit in the crowd from Atlanta’s Ender Inciarte, as MLB reports.

DiMarco, from San Diego, was enjoying the game and a beer as Inciarte stepped up to the plate in the top of the fifth innings. As the pitch came in, Inciarte swung and sent the foul ball skying backwards in to the stands.

Amazingly, DiMarco caught the foul ball in her beer.

Even more amazingly, she then downed the beer with the ball still in it. Waste not want not.

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Speaking to MLB, DiMarco said:

It bounced from behind me, I was trying to catch it all, and it landed in my cup.

Spurred on by fellow fans sitting around her, DiMarco then saw off her drink, much to the delight of the crowd.

DiMarco must have had some skill and luck on her side, unlike a TV reporter who needed medical assistance after a wayward ball hit him at a recent football match.

The incident occurred when Cristiano Ronaldo took an off-target shot during a training session, leading to the reporter requiring stitches.

The mishap took place as the Real Madrid forward prepared for the Champions League final against Liverpool.

In a video clip posted online by the official Champions League Twitter account, you see Ronaldo’s initial reaction and the clear guilt in the aftermath.

The TV reporter, Juan Lorenzana Prieto – who works for the Spanish language American TV station, Un – was the unlucky, accidental target to Ronaldo’s wayward shot and required stitches to his eyebrow.

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On the plus side, he did get Ronaldo’s training jacket, which the footballer gifted him as he walked off the pitch.

Now, that had to have stung a bit. We’re glad Juan is ok – he was all smiles as he posed for pictures with the training jacket in hand.

After that ordeal I bet Juan would have preferred a beer, though. But, unlike Gabby DiMarco, probably without a ball floating in it.

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Charlie Cocksedge

Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.