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Mookie Betts is one of the best players in baseball, but he also found a way to show he is one of the best people in baseball on Sunday.
The Los Angeles Dodgers star stepped in when Cincinnati Reds rookie TJ Friedl got his first career hit in the sixth inning. An opposing team will usually throw the ball into the dugout if an MLB player just signed his first career hit, but Friedl did his job a little too well. His first hit was a homerun in the right field stands at Great American Ball Park.
Thankfully Betts somehow had the presence of mind to quickly approach the Reds fans who had caught the ball and tell them they should return the ball. Reds supporters agreed, and the ball was soon in the Reds’ dugout.
A round later, Betts released one of their own signed sticks to reward Reds fans for their generosity.
Teams will often do what they can to get a player’s first home run ball, but it’s not often that you see a player step in to make sure a rookie gets what will surely be the one of his most precious possessions.
Paris would have explained after the game that he remembered Friedl making his MLB debut as a pinch hitter on Saturday, so he knew his home run on Sunday would have been his first big league hit. He was originally going to give fans a ball, but it turned into a bat when he saw how willing fans were to play ball.
The whole situation has left the Reds with a big Mookie Betts fan in their dugout, via Dodger Insider:
“It’s just first class. It’s amazing, just for him to do something like that is definitely just world class for him, ”Friedl said. “I want to go out there and just say thank you in person… because it means so much. Just to get this ball back and make it my first home run. And just so he knows it and turns to the fan, and I think he traded a bat for that… it’s just amazing.
“Chills, honestly for him to do that,” Friedl added.
The Dodgers ultimately won the game 8-5, with Betts going 2 for 4 with a run and a walk. He’s in the final month of another solid season with the Dodgers 96-54, hitting .276 / .379 / .508 with 21 home runs.
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