Man will give foul ball back

Professur

Professur

Well-Known Member
(AP) - The Texas baseball fan who prompted a public outcry when he knocked aside a four-year-old to get a foul ball now says he will give the ball to the youngster.

Matt Starr has also agreed to send a letter of apology to the family of Nick O'Brien and buy his family tickets to future Texas Rangers games, club official John Blake said Wednesday. "The fan let it be known to us that he wanted to give the ball back, and we informed the family that it indeed is going to happen," said Blake, Rangers senior vice-president.

Club spokesman Gregg Elkin said the Rangers did not orchestrate Starr's decision.

"He did this on his own, through an intermediary," Elkin said. "Someone that knows him said, 'Hey, he wants to do this, can you help him get it to the O'Briens?' and that's all we're doing."

No one answered the telephone at Starr's home on Wednesday evening, and he has not publicly responded to the criticism. The Dallas Morning News identified him as a married, 28-year-old landscaper and former youth minister.

Starr is "not the bad guy he's been made out to be," Rick DuBose, senior pastor of the Sachse Assembly of God Church, told the newspaper. "He probably got a little aggressive and did something he regrets. But that's not Matt. He's a good kid, a good young man."

Even before Starr's apparent change of heart over the ball, Nick had been getting a windfall worthy of a game-winning home run hitter.

Starr, who was sitting behind Nick at a Texas Rangers baseball game Sunday, knocked the boy against the seats as he dived to get the foul ball. Fans started chanting "Give him the ball!" but he wouldn't give it up.

"I couldn't believe someone would do something like that to a four-year-old boy," said Nick's mother, Edie O'Brien.

O'Brien said she swatted the man with a cardboard fan and called him a jerk, among other names. "I said, 'You trampled a four-year-old boy to get this ball,' and he said, 'Oh, well,"' she told ABC's Good Morning America on Wednesday, adding that the man seemed proud he got the ball.

Video shows Nick was standing up as the man dived across the boy's seat to grab the ball at Nick's feet. Starr's leg strikes the boy, and the boy is jostled a second time as the man stands up with the ball and appears to exchange words with the mother.

Nick wasn't hurt, but fan outrage mushroomed, and even Rangers announcer Tom Grieve voiced his disapproval on television, calling Starr "the biggest jerk in this park." The man and a woman with him left before the game was over.

Meanwhile, the Rangers and the St. Louis Cardinals quickly made sure Nick got souvenirs of his own - two bats and four baseballs, including one signed by Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan, a former Ranger.

Cardinals outfielder Reggie Sanders came out between innings to give Nick a bat and ball. "In my heart, I thought I should do something," said Sanders. "It's all about the kids."

On Good Morning America, host Charles Gibson gave the O'Briens more souvenirs Wednesday - this time from the New York Mets. The family got tickets to Wednesday night's game against the Cleveland Indians.

"Wow," Nick said.
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Source


Goodness of his heart, eh? Fucking ape. Probably hasn't been able to show his face in public without being booed and ridicluled ever since.
 
Give him the ball or not, diving into a 4 year-old to grab a freaking baseball qualifies you for asshole of the year every time.
 
It'll mean nothing to the child now in any case. He should just hang himself for shame.
 
"He's not the bad guy he's made out to be"? So good guys dive into 4-year olds willingly? And anyway, did you see the look of triumph on his face after getting that ball?

Who cares about that ball anyway. I would rather have the souvenirs that the kid got from the players.
 
The game was lousy too, the score at the time was 12-0. He is definitely a top candidate for asshole of the year.

BTW, I did hear that the guy who hit the foul ball (I believe Reggie Sanders) gave the kid an autographed bat and ball. :)
 
Who fucking cares? Seriously...people have this much time to actually harass and bother a zealous fan who pushed over, what will likely grow up to be another asshole, kid. Yeah it was small hearted but geez....he needs to grow up and the dumb fucks who pissed and booed him for days afterwards.
 
IDLEchild said:
Who fucking cares? Seriously...people have this much time to actually harass and bother a zealous fan who pushed over, what will likely grow up to be another asshole, kid. Yeah it was small hearted but geez....he needs to grow up and the dumb fucks who pissed and booed him for days afterwards.
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Who fucking cares? I fucking care. That's who. If more people took the time to stomp assholes like this into the ground, there'd be less of them. It's when they get away with shit like this that perpetuates the behavior. How many times have you seen some asshole push into line at the grocery store, or movie, and noone says a word? Or the cunt who sees that there's construction up ahead, and swerves around where everyone else is merging to cut in right at the last minute? Usually cutting off a truck and slowing everyone else down? Why do you think they do this? Because noone's gonna stop them. And even if one guy does, noone else is gonna back him up, are they? Because, just like you, they're much too busy to take the time to try and improve society a little bit.
 
Attack at Comiskey
2 fans come out of stands, assault Royals coach Gamboa

By Phil Rogers
Tribune baseball reporter
Published September 20, 2002, 2:14 PM CDT

A 34-year-old Alsip man is in police custody awaiting a Saturday bond court hearing on charges he and a teenager pummeled a visiting coach during a White Sox home game at Comiskey Park.

It was another ugly chapter to add to Chicago sports history: Two spectators, shirtless and even more reckless, charged onto the field to attack Kansas City first-base coach Tom Gamboa in the top of the ninth inning Thursday night.

They did it as Gamboa's attention was diverted by White Sox pitcher Mike Porzio's catch of a Michael Tucker bunt. They hit the 54-year-old coach from behind and then landed a number of blows.

With shortstop Neifi Perez leading the charge, Royals players mobbed the two until Comiskey Park security personnel got control of the situation.

"No punishment could be stiff enough," Sox first baseman Paul Konerko said. "I wish they had left the players out there to beat on them for an hour."

Police took a man and a 15-year-old boy into custody.

Authorities this morning identified the man as William Ligue Jr., of the 3400 block of West 125th Street, Alsip. He was charged with one count of aggravated battery and is to appear in bond court Saturday, authorities said.

The boy lives in Blue Island, according to police. He was charged as a juvenile with two counts of aggravated battery and was released to his mother this morning. He has a Monday court date in Cook County Juvenile Court.

"He flipped us off. He got what he deserved," the youth told a WGN-Ch. 9 camera crew Thursday night as police led him away from Comiskey.

The defendants are accused of attacking Gamboa and an off-duty police officer working with Sox security.

According to Royals manager Tony Pena and many players, security officials found a small pocketknife on the field after the brawl. Some witnesses thought one of the attackers may have been trying to use it, but there was no formal mention of the weapon, which may just have fallen out of someone's pocket during the struggle.

Gamboa, who said he felt "like a football team hit me from behind," sustained only a small cut above one eye and bruises. He left the field for treatment as the Royals finished off a 2-1 victory over the White Sox.

For Gamboa, the incident brought back one immediate reflection—of watching a fan come out of the stands to stab tennis star Monica Seles in an event in Europe.

"Ironically, I was watching the tennis tournament when Monica Seles got stabbed," Gamboa said. "To tell you the truth, I'm grateful I didn't [get stabbed]."

Sox general manager Ken Williams was relieved that Gamboa's injuries were not worse. He visited with Gamboa and Pena immediately after the game.

"It's devastating, very devastating," Williams said. "When you look in the man's eyes and try to apologize on behalf of the club and the city and all concerned, words don't adequately express the sorrow when you're looking at a man who has blood on his forehead."

Gamboa never saw his attackers coming.

"I was just shocked because it came from behind," said Gamboa, who served as the Cubs' third-base coach in 1998 and '99. "I had no idea. I got blindsided and I had no idea about who was hitting me because it wasn't [somebody on] the other team. When I turned around I saw two of them. I kicked one and unfortunately the other smoked me on the side [of my head]."

While such a direct assault is rare in professional sports, it is not unprecedented. Violence has been a part of Chicago's baseball history. The most vivid examples are the brawl between several Los Angeles Dodgers players and Wrigley Field fans in 2000, the 1995 game when a fan ran onto the field at Wrigley and attacked Cubs reliever Randy Myers and the Disco Demolition incident at the original Comiskey Park, which forced the Sox to forfeit a game in 1979.

Neither Gamboa nor any of the Royals' parties seemed to believe the White Sox's security staff was to blame.

"It's not reflection on the security or the White Sox," Kansas City first baseman Mike Sweeney said. "It's just the result of two complete losers. … It's sad. I look forward to seeing those guys be held accountable for their crimes."

While the Sox will meet Friday to review the incident, Williams and Reifert both said it is too early to know if it will cause any changes in their policies regarding security or the sale of alcohol.

Williams said he felt "shock and surprise like everybody else that something like this could happen on a ballfield where the one thing we've tried to stress over the years is fan-friendly and [a] kid environment. To have something happen like this … it's completely out of the blue and I would hope we never see it again."

There had been no indications of trouble on a late-summer night when storms were in the forecast but stayed away. The crowd was listed at 10,354 but was considerably smaller.

The two attackers came out of the stands while attention was diverted by Porzio's diving catch of Tucker's bunt.

"I saw two people jump on the field," Pena said. "I said, 'Oh, here we go.' Then I saw them run out at Gamboa. Everybody was shocked."

Especially Gamboa.

"We were between hitters," he said. "I had my hands on my hips and was looking at the [next] hitter going to the box. The next thing I knew I was on my knees [defending] myself."

Even though security guards restored order quickly, no one doubted that the attackers wound up with worse injuries at the bottom of the huge pile than any they inflicted.

"If somebody hurt somebody in your family, you're going to protect your family," Sweeney said. "Tom Gamboa has been with our family for two years now. We felt like those two clowns tried to take Tom's life. We protected our family like you would protect your family. … If it wasn't for the security guards doing a great job, I think our team would still be beating on those guys."
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Story found here.

Prof, you have a definite point. IC, you sound like the judge from these guys' trial where all they got was fucking probation. The judge failed to make examples out of these, thereby practically guaranteeing it'll happen again.
 
Gamboa never saw his attackers coming.

"I was just shocked because it came from behind," said Gamboa, who served as the Cubs' third-base coach in 1998 and '99. "I had no idea. I got blindsided and I had no idea about who was hitting me because it wasn't [somebody on] the other team. When I turned around I saw two of them. I kicked one and unfortunately the other smoked me on the side [of my head]."
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Chickenshit punks.



"No punishment could be stiff enough," Sox first baseman Paul Konerko said. "I wish they had left the players out there to beat on them for an hour."
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No doubt.
 
Professur said:
Because, just like you, they're much too busy to take the time to try and improve society a little bit.
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Yeah, keep dreaming and thinking that same reaction towards them will make them stop or even improve them. You think he changed in anyway?...He probably fosters more hatred and anger now then he did before. His assholeness wasn't focused before but it will be now.

What did people really get out ridiculing him to no end? You people have an amazing resilience to serve your community when it means taking one dipshit on with your fellow, well meaning brothers, but god knows your sense and spirit dies when it comes to actual change. Stop fooling yourself into thinking you're doing anything for anyone by beating down an asshole, he'll be an asshole regardless...most likely a bigger one.

Where was a fellow caring civilian to smack the idiot on the face right then and take the ball for him and give it to the kid? To go up to him and show him off?....many seemed to started caring from the comforts of their cars and phones to harass him.

Stoplaughing said:
]IC, you sound like the judge from these guys' trial where all they got was fucking probation.
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I'll take note of your pathetic example when it serves any prupose here. Assualting and being a zealous fan are two different things in this case.
 
IC, his action of knocking the kid over is being booed. By not booing it you are condoning it. You totally missed the point of my last post, that the judge from that case (I couldn't find a story about their trail, the only one I could find was of the incident itself, if I had found it it certainly would've been more relevant) was just like you, thought of the people commiting the act rather than the act itself, and probation is certainly not enough for what those two assholes did. You think probation's gonna stop someone from repeating it? No way. Would prison time? Better than probation would.
 
Stop Laughing said:
You think probation's gonna stop someone from repeating it? No way. Would prison time? Better than probation would.
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So you want to imprison a man for pushing a 4 year old out of the way to catch a ball?

I am not focusing on the other case, my problems is with those who go around harassing him when no one did anything at the present moment. Why didn't anyone confront him in the parking lot?

What do you really get out pushing back an asshole? Being a social vigilante? You only instill your fear into someone else...isn't that what assholes do in the first place?...ok fine, even I have no moral dilemmas about that but this has become the first and last resort to deal with any mild, unruly situation these days.....be at arms because thinking with a biased state of mind is so cool...ala Kuulani calling me an asshole. I love to beat down an asshole as much as anyone but I am not going to go around and pretend that a 4 year old not getting a foul ball is a tear in the moral fabric of society.

Each case requires its on evaluation because each asshole comes in a different shape but in this case people are overreacting....same people who seem to be mum when an actual asshole who inflicts real damage comes along.
 
IDLEchild said:
I am not focusing on the other case, my problems is with those who go around harassing him when no one did anything at the present moment. Why didn't anyone confront him in the parking lot?
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See, that's the thing. They did, and he refused to give the ball up, knowing full well that he pushed the kid aside to grab the ball. That's what makes him a jerk, in my opinion. Anybody could bump into a kid in a moment like that, but a civilized, mature adult would have apologized profusely to the kid and the kid's mother, and given him the ball right then, voluntarily.


Starr, who was sitting behind Nick at a Texas Rangers baseball game Sunday, knocked the boy against the seats as he dived to get the foul ball. Fans started chanting "Give him the ball!" but he wouldn't give it up.

"I couldn't believe someone would do something like that to a four-year-old boy," said Nick's mother, Edie O'Brien.

O'Brien said she swatted the man with a cardboard fan and called him a jerk, among other names. "I said, 'You trampled a four-year-old boy to get this ball,' and he said, 'Oh, well,"' she told ABC's Good Morning America on Wednesday, adding that the man seemed proud he got the ball.

Video shows Nick was standing up as the man dived across the boy's seat to grab the ball at Nick's feet. Starr's leg strikes the boy, and the boy is jostled a second time as the man stands up with the ball and appears to exchange words with the mother.

Nick wasn't hurt, but fan outrage mushroomed, and even Rangers announcer Tom Grieve voiced his disapproval on television, calling Starr "the biggest jerk in this park." The man and a woman with him left before the game was over.
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IDLEchild said:
So you want to imprison a man for pushing a 4 year old out of the way to catch a ball?
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IC, quit putting words in my mouth while seemingly ignoring the rest of the post (and other posts, might I add). Did I ever say to imprison the man who pushed the kid? I never said that nor implied it. I am comparing the situations. Each one should be punished according to their wrongdoing. For this man, his punishment is public ridicule. Like I said before, by not booing and/or ridiculing his actions you are condoning them. If anyone is stalking this man, severely harrassing him or causing him bodily harm or anything else like that, then that's an entirely different story and should be settled with the police.
 
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