Small Gestures

If a small gesture has a chance to make someone’s day, take it.

On Saturday, my son and I found ourselves in the front row of the left field bleachers at Petco Park in San Diego. When they were finished with their warm-up tosses between innings, the left fielders toss the balls into the stands to eager fans. Jesse Winker of the New York Mets, who had made a fantastic diving catch earlier in the game, threw one to a group of kids standing near me. The ball bounced off of one kid’s glove, hit me and then fell to the ground. I picked it up and stuck it in the kid’s glove.

The guy sitting next to me told me it was a cool thing I did. I told him it was a small thing: that I didn’t want or need a ball used to play catch, and if it made that kid’s day, it was worth it. For the record, my son did not want the ball.

Later, after a home run was hit near us (Francisco Lindor’s second of the game, the first being a grand slam), and the crowd egged on the person who caught it to throw it back, the guy sitting next to me told me about the time he picked up a home run ball hit by Will Smith of the Dodgers. He was going to throw it back, but instead he gave it to a Dodgers fan sitting near him. He showed me a picture of an ecstatic Dodgers fan.

“You totally made that guy’s day,” I told him. “That was a cool thing you did.”


Side note: Petco Park is a fantastic place to see a game. I highly recommend it to any baseball fan.