Jon Kramer was astounded by his misfortune.
At Sunday’s Boston Red Sox-Dodgers game, the 28-year-old Culver City computer analyst and his buddies were seated in loge-level seats near the third-base line. In the bottom of the fifth inning, they made the decision to head to Centerfield Plaza for some food and beverages.
As Kramer passed by one of the big TV screens, he saw Shohei Ohtani sitting at the plate. The Japanese sensation smashed his 30th home run for the Dodgers this season when he was stopping to watch.
“My initial reaction is, ‘I can’t believe I’m seeing this on a screen instead of at my seat,’ when he hits the home run. We departed at the incorrect hour and, well, you get the picture,” Kramer said to The Times on Monday.
But Kramer was in disbelief at his fortunate fortune two seconds later.
“I was right there, picking it up when the ball came flying over the pavilion, landed, and hit a guy behind me like in the chest.” stated Kramer.
Ohtani’s bomb off Boston’s Kutter Crawford nearly reached the roof over right-center field seats, traveling 473 feet. Rather, before arriving in the plaza area, it seemed to magically fly through the tiny opening between the hanging “Daiso” sign and the roof.
“Throughout my entire life, I’ve attended baseball games, and I’ve never even come close to hitting a home run, much less one that [nearly] left Dodger Stadium,” Kramer remarked. “Just the right time and location, then.”
According to Kramer, he was besieged by Japanese reporters and Dodgers supporters who wanted to snap a photo with the ball that Ohtani had smashed. He claimed that in order for his Boston-born fiancée, Julia Brosseau, to take photos with him, she had to hastily take off her Red Sox cap.
According to Kramer, he gave Dodgers staff his number in the hopes that Ohtani would autograph the ball. Kramer added that even in the unlikely event that it doesn’t, he will still have a distinctive desk accessory.
It’s really bizarre, he remarked. “The fact that this ball is trending on social media, appearing on national television’s “Sunday Night Baseball,” and everyone is talking about it makes me think, “Yeah, I have that ball.” That makes it rather crazy. I just kind of watched replays and reveled in how crazy this moment is all day.