Two balls, no strikes

A couple of baseball stories to round out the week...

Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals has been hitting baseballs for a living since Woodrow Wilson was president, or so it would seem. He is trying to hit his 700th home run, and this week, he clobbered #697, passing Alex Rodriguez for 4th place on the all-time home run hitters list. 

A young fan who caught the ball was willing to give it to the Dominican Republic-born slugger, and most players cherish these souvenirs -  but the fan told him that she lost her father on the same day one year ago, and Pujols told her to keep the ball and gave her two more signed balls, saying that homer ball would mean more to her than to him.

That's the sort of kindness that will inspire karma to help him hit three more "circuit clouts" to reach his goal. I love stories like that, and like this next one, which starts out foul but ends up in the seats...

On September 1, a young girl was at the Washington Nats game with her Shenandoah Rec League softball all-star team. Out in the bleachers, she - all of 10 - was spotted by Joey Meneses, a new star outfielder for Washington, and that oddest of rookies: a 30-year-old.

Meneses tossed a ball to the girl and some horse's patootie of an "adult" cut in front of her and snagged the ball. The video is all over the virals, but it makes me sick to see it.

The girl was heartbroken, naturally, and her mom wrote to the Washington team to see if somehow she could get a ball to mend her feelings.

On Tuesday, she had a signed ball and a nice note from right fielder Meneses, who did the right thing. She got what she deserved.

And I hope the man who stole the ball from a child gets what's coming to him, too.