Sota Fujimori, a 10-year-old boy who caught the home run ball hit by the Los Angeles' Shohei Ohtani, shows the ball to the media during an MLB Tokyo Series baseball game between the Dodgers and the Chicago Cubs at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Sota is from Saitama, located just north of greater Tokyo. Sitting in right-center field, he watched Ohtani's home run in the fifth inning fall off the hands of another fan nearby — and back onto the field. It looked like bad luck.
Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong tossed the ball back into the stands.
Sota retrieved it as umpires reviewed the play to ensure the ball had cleared the wall and Ohtani had his first home run of the season.
His parents asked not to take a photograph of their son's face, and they were reluctant to give many more details. But photos of the ball were OK.
Sota told reporters he is also an outfielder and in the fourth grade.
“I was really surprised,” he said. “I couldn't believe it. I'm going to keep it as the family treasure.”
2 Comments
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tamanegi
Lucky Sota! Reminds me that I should have made more effort to retrieve a rare home run ball in one of Ichiro's last games domestically for the Blue Wave all those years ago at Osaka Dome.
crashblossoms
huh? the ball fell to the ground.