We've all experienced the immediate embarrassment of the police officer who interfered on a hit
There are some pretty good perks to being a police officer at Blue Jays games. Not only do you get to exult in the joy of watching Vladimir Guerrero Jr. take his first steps as a Major Leaguer, but you're also sometimes lucky enough to snag an incredible seat for the occasion -- on the field in foul territory. But it's all fun and games until the ball finds you.
That's what happened to one officer at Saturday's A's-Blue Jays game. In the fifth inning,
Unfortunately, the officer did not notice that umpire Alfonso Marquez had already called the ball fair.
Maybe nobody noticed ... 😂 pic.twitter.com/6oMjGrvNfV
— MLB (@MLB) April 27, 2019
Bonus points for subtly trying to get the ball back in play, at least. I would say "No harm, no foul," but, well, the ball wasn't foul.
If Laureano's hit had been foul, we might have commended the officer on his smooth hands. Tough break. Instead, interference was called on the play and Laureano had to settle for a double, though he did eventually come around to score.
It's hard to blame the officer, though. Instincts took over, and you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who couldn't relate to this kind of panicked moment. Maybe it's accidentally hitting print on a 78-page document that you didn't need. Or maybe it's closing a window of 10 tabs that you were keeping an eye on when you meant to exit something else.
Or maybe it's dropping your pants in front of an entire ballpark after a single.
Tough to beat that in terms of embarrassment, anyway.
Andrew Mearns is a writer for Cut4 whose baseball obsession was born from the shattered dreams of Mike Mussina's perfect game attempt in 2001. He has a startling memory of World Series highlights that barely functions as a party trick.
