Travis Ishikawa made history Thursday night when he sent the San Francisco Giants to the World Series courtesy of a walk off home run.
The man on the receiving end…Oakdale, California transmission repairman Frank Burke who, immediately following the game, gave the home run ball back to Ishikawa.
“I believe in karma,” Burke told The Associated Press. “I didn’t hit that ball…if anybody’s going to have that ball in their game room or trophy case, it’s going to be the guy who hit it.”
Thankfully for Ishikawa, the ball that Burke caught wasn’t one of the more than 7800 (and counting) baseballs that Zack Hample has secured in his years as a baseball fan.
“There’s no way I would’ve given back the Ishikawa home run ball,” the famed ballhawk told The Hall. “When you’re talking about something that has only happened four times in the history of Major League Baseball, the ball is too valuable to just hand over.
And before you think Hample is talking about monetary gain…he’s not. Matter of fact, the native New Yorker has never made a cent off of any of the baseballs he’s caught. On the contrary, he’s recently taken to catching baseballs in an effort to raise money for charity.
Hample’s desire to keep the ball aside, he does understand the connection between batter and ball.
“Of course it was most emotional for Ishikawa,” Hample continued, “so while some would argue that he deserves to have the ball back, I would argue that he already had the greatest prize of all, namely the thrill of having hit it.”
Back to Burke though. How was he rewarded for his generosity? After being told Ishikawa wanted the ball, he was whisked away to the Giants clubhouse where he was given a bat signed by the left fielder. A day later, he was told he would also have four seats for Game Three of the World Series waiting for him at AT&T Park for him and him family to enjoy.
Not too shabby.
Travis Ishikawa did get to take home a souvenir #SFGiants #OctoberTogether (Photo @bradmangin) pic.twitter.com/g7jK8Xw6og
— #OctoberTogether (@SFGiants) October 17, 2014
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