What happened to Cal Raleigh's home run ball that clinched playoffs for Seattle Mariners?
What happened to Cal Raleigh's home run ball that clinched playoffs for Seattle Mariners?
Meet the 17-year-old Washington kid, attending his first ever MLB game, who caught the home run ball that sent the Mariners to the playoffs for the first time in more than 20 years: "I wanted to give Cal the ball."
SEATTLE - For Seattle Mariners fans, it's a sight that will never get old.
Cal Raleigh drilling a walk-off home run with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th inning, clinching a Wild Card spot and sending the M's to their first postseason in more than 20 years.
That play from Friday night will go down in Mariners history books, along with the young man who actually caught the ball.
17-year-old Marchany Roman of Puyallup was sitting in right field on Friday night attending his first Major League Baseball game ever when Raleigh crushed the one-run bomb over the fence.
The ball smacked off the windows of the Hit-It-Here Cafe before tumbling down towards Marchany's section.
FOX 13 news caught up with him earlier today, and he described how it happened:
"Last pitch I was shaking, everybody was standing up. As soon as that bat hit the ball everybody knew everybody was yelling. In the video you can kind of see the ball coming up, and them around my section everyone stayed quiet because we saw the ball starting to come down. Everybody was so focused on catching the ball. I saw it come our way and my brother was right next to me, so I jumped over him. I had to reach over the people behind us to be able to catch that ball. And the second I caught that it felt like I blacked out I don’t remember anything."
PHOTOS: Seattle Mariners clinch first playoff berth in 21 years!
After the game, Marchany was approached by the Mariners' organization regarding that priceless souvenir.
Marchany said he would hand the ball over, but under one condition: he wanted to hand over the ball directly to Raleigh.
"I wanted to give Cal the ball personally. I really wanted to talk to him and tell him that I caught the ball and wanted to give it to him. It was great – he is such a great guy. And he was like ‘do you want to keep the ball?’ and I was like ‘nah, I want to give it to you. I just wanted to come down here and give the ball to you personally because I know the ball means a lot to you guys. And it was the right thing to do."
Relive the moment: Cal Raleigh walk-off homer with two outs in ninth clinches playoff spot for Mariners
Marchany gave up the ball, but he didn't go home empty-handed. In exchange, the Mariners gifted him an official bat and ball, both signed by catcher Cal Raleigh.