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BOSTON – Andrew Lastrapes, a longtime baseball fan, has long been waiting for a trip to Fenway Park.
But two months ago, Atlanta's 32-year-old man knew little when he had bought tickets for Saturday's Yankees-Red Sox game, his first visit to the stadium would be memorable – and viral -.
Lastrapes, dressed in a black t-shirt and sporting a 5-hour shadow, fired the internet on Saturday afternoon while he flipped a house at the top of the seventh inning of the victory. New York 8-5 on the Red Sox. run belted ball by Yankees hitter Giancarlo Stanton.
"I do not think I looked at the pitch," Lastrapes told ESPN Sunday, a few hours before heading home. "I just grabbed the ball and threw it as far as I can."
The pitch, launched from the front row of the Green Monster, jumped ahead and bounced on Stanton as he skirted the second goal. Not missing a step, Stanton continued his trot, but turned his head, smiled and seemed to tip his cap.
"When the ball hit it, I thought," Oh, that could be a big problem, "Lastrapes said.
Lastrapes immediately called a friend who was nearby. He told Thomas Barton that they had better leave. Barton, a man from Athens, Georgia, aged 32, was a row or two below Lastrapes when the ball was thrown. In video replays of the throw, we can see Barton, wearing a brown shirt, raising his arms to celebrate.
"I watched Thomas and I thought" Let's go, "said Lastrapes. "So I left, then saw a security group come down and [they] I just missed it. And then there was a security guard, and he was an old man, and he was like, "Son, did you hit Giancarlo Stanton with that bullet?"
"And I was like" Yes. "
Cradled to Barton: "We talked more about shame."
Lastrapes was sorry to hit Stanton. Many times, he made it clear that he wanted the ball player to know that he did not want to hit him.
The Fenway Park Security Department asked Lastrapes to complete certain documents to document the incident. But according to him, security has never officially expelled him. He was also not told that he had been banned from the stadium.
"I turned to Thomas and I told him," Whatever happens, I'll send you a message later, "said Lastrapes." They were like: "Nothing will happen to you." They were pretty cool about it. "
Why did Lastrapes throw the ball in the first place?
"The last thing we were talking about on this pitch was if a Yankee hit a track – we had several conversations about it – but if a Yankee hit a track, we had to reject it," Lastrapes said. "We are fans of Braves. [less] about the game. "
Once they left the stadium, Lastrapes, Barton and another friend entered a bar around the stadium. They finished with baseball for the day. Fans of Big Georgia Bulldogs, they wanted to see how the Bulldogs were fighting against Tennessee.
Watching the football match, friends started texting and tweeting, saying that they thought they saw a person resembling Lastrapes hitting Giancarlo Stanton. Lastrapes never responded to the tweets that he saw by saying that. He simply liked the message and continued his day.
Stanton later had fun with what happened, posting on Instagram a video of Lastrapes' launch in SportsCenter interspersed with excerpts from the 1993 film "Rookie of the Year".
Just after the match, Stanton laughed at the incident, telling reporters that he could have caught the balloon had he looked for it.
"It happens all the time in our stadium," said Stanton. "So not too worried about it, and it could be a special ball, we needed it anyway.
"I think he may have lost money on that."
Stanton's solo circuit, the Yankees world record in 266th of the season, allowed the New York team to advance to 8-2. Earlier in the game, Gleyber Torres hit a two-run homer in the fourth end as the Yankees overtook the Seattle Mariners of 1997 for the most in a season in league history.
0:52
Giancarlo Stanton describes his reaction to being hit by his ground ball at Fenway Park.
"I'm a big fan of baseball, and I was not aware of that, which is embarrassing to say," Lastrapes said of the story that his baseball helped establish. "Even though I knew it, I do not think it would have crossed my mind … I've always been like:" I'm at the stadium, if a visitor hits a shot of circuit, I'll throw it back. "
If anyone has an idea of the value of the balloon, do not tell Lastrapes.
"I do not really care how much money it was," Lastrapes said. "I do not imagine it would be so much.
Regardless of what he may have lost, Lastrapes has been rich in sports experiences recently. He said that he was also "riding the fairway with Tiger [Woods]"as part of the PGA Championship galley last weekend in suburban Atlanta.
"It was an amazing sporting week for me," he said with a smile.
Lastrapes added that last Sunday, he did not think he could live a sporting experience around Woods as he won his first PGA Tour tournament in five years.
"It was so surreal to be there," Lastrapes said. "This one in mind, though."
The fan said that he was playing baseball growing up and that two or three times a year he was playing with Barton. Considering he did not have the chance to warm up before Saturday's start, he said he still feels good on Sunday: no pain.
"Some people have called us for it to be really elevated," said Lastrapes about the criticisms he's seen about his jet traveling to the present day. "It's a decent criticism – I do not think I would have landed it if I had launched it from Yankee Stadium." It gave it a better appearance than it did. was actually because of its height. "
The information provided by the Associated Press has been used in this report.
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