I'd Like To See Willie Mays Do This!
Mollie Hemingway, Ed. ·
May 19, 2011 at 6:58pm
I already blogged about this over at Mommyish.com, where I called it "The Best Picture Of A Mom Catching A Baseball Ever."
What's not to love about this photo? I can't get enough of the way she's clutching her kid while reaching for the ball, that she beat out the Nationals fan, and that she narrowly avoided stomping various other children. This is what we call multi-tasking.
And as a mom who is raising my children to be baseball fans, and the daughter and granddaughter of baseball fans, the whole scene warms my heart.
I'm still trying to work on a caption for it, though! Perhaps you can help.
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Jan '11
Re: I'd Like To See Willie Mays Do This!
There's so much going on in that picture. Look at the red-bedecked kids a couple rows behind them. Look at the woman with the green shirt clutching her pocketbook (which would be my wife's response). There's a snippet of a pair of legs a couple rows back where some guy is ready to grab the ball if she drops it.
But what I want to know ... the mother obviously brought a glove, but she also has a head protector for the baby ... that's being prepared!
Feb '11
Re: I'd Like To See Willie Mays Do This!
OK, well, here are couple of guys doing the same thing at two different games in recent years....barehanded.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1202964/Lets-hope-mum-didnt-TV-Sport-fan-dad-catches-baseball-hand-balancing-baby-other.html
http://www.faniq.com/blog/Video-Man-Catches-Foul-Ball-While-Holding-Baby-Blog-27434
Edited on May 19, 2011 at 7:24pmRe: I'd Like To See Willie Mays Do This!
That's not a protection devise for the baby. It's a reshaping devise...hopefully not from the foul ball she missed last week.
Jul '10
Re: I'd Like To See Willie Mays Do This!
"Nanny Nabs Nationals' Nailer"
Aug '10
Re: I'd Like To See Willie Mays Do This!
A slightly creepy note intrudes. She's binding her kid's head to change its shape? Eeeuuw.
Anyway, I think Mollie's word, "Multitasking", would make a good title. So would "One for My Baby".
May '10
Re: I'd Like To See Willie Mays Do This!
Paul DeRocco
A slightly creepy note intrudes. She's binding her kid's head to change its shape? Eeeuuw.
Anyway, I think Mollie's word, "Multitasking", would make a good title. So would "One for My Baby". · May 19 at 8:02pm
No, it's not creepy. Sometimes babies develop a flat spot on their heads, and if the parents and the pediatrician catch it early enough they can correct it so the skull forms its normal, rounded shape. I have known a few babies with this problem. They have to wear the helmet basically 24 hours a day (except for bath time) for a few months. If they don't correct it, the poor kid has a flat part of his head, which I've seen too.
By the way, I LOVE this picture! Way to go, Mom!
Apr '11
Re: I'd Like To See Willie Mays Do This!
I'm remembering the YouTube video that made the rounds a couple of years ago of a ball girl in the minors scaling the left-field corner wall to catch a foul. Turned out it had been staged for a commercial.
There is nothing in this photo to make me think it is real and not staged, and vice versa. I want to see the long-form birth certificate . . . on paper.
Re: I'd Like To See Willie Mays Do This!
grendel: I'm remembering the YouTube video that made the rounds a couple of years ago of a ball girl in the minors scaling the left-field corner wall to catch a foul. Turned out it had been staged for a commercial.
There is nothing in this photo to make me think it is real and not staged, and vice versa. I want to see the long-form birth certificate . . . on paper. · May 19 at 8:27pm
See, I wasn't fooled by that video -- or this one -- but I did start to fret when one of my friends said he thought this couldn't be real. (He's also fond of shouting out -- at baseball games, no less -- that ladies can't be [insert profession being discussed at the moment]. Odd sense of humor, that one.)
Anyway, I tracked it down and you can see the long-form birth certificate here.
Jun '10
Re: I'd Like To See Willie Mays Do This!
In an odd way, that picture makes me love America all the more. Family, competition, self-reliance, and baseball.
Jan '11
Re: I'd Like To See Willie Mays Do This!
I still think the head protector thing was funny. But head shaper? That's got me beat.
May '10
Re: I'd Like To See Willie Mays Do This!
Caption: A Mom's Place Is At Home Runs
Aug '10
Re: I'd Like To See Willie Mays Do This!
She could advertise for deodorant -Do you Americans have a product called "Sure" with the catchphrase (pun intended!) "Sure: won't let you down".
Re: I'd Like To See Willie Mays Do This!
"Priorities."
Or....
"The Perfect Woman"
Or....
"First they took our jobs. Now our balls."
Or...
"As if Nationals fans weren't emasculated enough."
Or...
"A chef in the kitchen, a lady in the living room and Willie Mays at the ball field."
Or...
"Representin'"
Or
"Advanced Martha Stewart Syndrome"
Aug '10
Re: I'd Like To See Willie Mays Do This!
"Let's hope she doesn't throw it to home plate"
Jun '10
Re: I'd Like To See Willie Mays Do This!
"That's not a protection devise for the baby. It's a reshaping devise...hopefully not from the foul ball she missed last week."
Best Ricochet line of the week! Ha ha !!!!
May '10
Re: I'd Like To See Willie Mays Do This!
grendel: I'm remembering the YouTube video that made the rounds a couple of years ago of a ball girl in the minors scaling the left-field corner wall to catch a foul. Turned out it had been staged for a commercial.
There is nothing in this photo to make me think it is real and not staged, and vice versa. I want to see the long-form birth certificate . . . on paper. · May 19 at 8:27pm
Here's the story on the ESPN site: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=wilson/110519_foul_ball_mom&sportCat=mlb
Oct '10
Re: I'd Like To See Willie Mays Do This!
For a caption how about, "...but does she throw like a girl??"
Oct '10
Re: I'd Like To See Willie Mays Do This!
Picture kinda looks staged, or maybe re-enacted, to me. The reactions by the people all around her don't seem to be what they would be when a real foul ball is entering the stands in real time. First, it's almost impossible for your eyes to follow the ball into your mitt at the moment you catch it (you don't see the ball hit the bat, and you don't see the tennis ball hit the racket). Second, the lady in the green shirt is not concerned at all about being hit. Her natural reaction would've been to cower or cover up, not casually look up at a projectile making a beeline for her noggin. A few others, but I've run out of words.
Re: I'd Like To See Willie Mays Do This!
dittoheadadt
Picture kinda looks staged, or maybe re-enacted, to me. ...· May 20 at 7:46am
From the ESPN.com link above:
Oct '10
Re: I'd Like To See Willie Mays Do This!
Here's another guess - it wasn't a nifty catch of a foul ball, it was an easy catch of a ball tossed into the stands by a player or by the ball boy/girl. No one in the vicinity is the least bit concerned about being hit by the ball, which suggests it wasn't perceived as unexpected and potentially dangerous (a foul ball) but instead was expected and harmless (a tossed ball).