Oh! Tani

Watching the Orioles game on Saturday evening, the cameras showed a happy fan who was happy as a clam, showing off the baseball he had just caught after it was fouled off.

And two seats away from him was a little girl crying her little heart out, because she didn't get a ball.

The scene was so American: a grown man with joy just jumping off his forehead in his glee, and the little despondent girl in tears.

Later, as the inning ended, they showed the little girl, with a baseball in her hand, so either that guy handed over the ball he caught, or some helpful club official brought Ms Matilda a ball.

Later, as the game ended, I was despondent as once again the Orioles were able to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Meanwhile, out west, Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani is now the first player in history to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in the same season. He hit a homer against the Marlins the other night that put him into that stratosphere - the first and only player ever to do so - and that ball is going to make someone a very rich person!

Five years ago, there were "experts" claiming that Ohtani would not be successful in American baseball. Huh?

I'll tell you, fans are getting smart: the guy who grabbed that ball out in the stands made like a guy shoplifting a ham - he stuck it in his pocket and made a run for it!

People who know about such things are saying that the Dodgers offered the as-yet-unidentified ballhawk $300,000 for it, and they also say the club is going to have to dodge that figure up by one more zero if they want it.

In case you're thinking "oh any old Jazzbo can buy an official ball, make it look used, and then claim it's the Ohtani homer ball." 

Forget it, Jazzbo. The people who own baseball are way ahead of you, and they mark all balls for later verification before they are pitched in these likely-to-be-famous moments.

You have to be in the right place to catch a moment of history!