World Series 2016: Kyle Schwarber BP home run ball makes father-son trip to Wrigley even more special

Ryan Fagan

World Series 2016: Kyle Schwarber BP home run ball makes father-son trip to Wrigley even more special image

CHICAGO — I’ve had a couple near-death experiences during my travels over the years. 

One time, I was solo canoeing on an alligator-infested Florida river when a massive gator — at least 10 feet long, if it was an inch — launched itself directly at me from about 15 feet away and sent my canoe rocking as it dove into the black waters of the Santa Fe River. 

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Many years ago, my brother and I wandered way too far down into the crevices of the South Dakota Badlands on a hot summer day without water and it took us more than an hour to finally crawl out of a dirt canyon to safety (didn’t plan that one so well). 

And before Game 3 of the World Series, with the wind blowing strongly out toward Waveland Avenue, I stood in the Wrigley Field left-field bleachers without a glove as right-handed Cubs sluggers Kris Bryant, Jorge Soler and others took direct aim at me with line-drive shot after line-drive shot (OK, maybe not “direct” aim, though it sometimes felt like it).

I was just about as nervous as I’d been when the gator was charging. 

So when I watched a Cubs fan wearing a Ryne Sandberg jersey catch an opposite-field line-drive shot from Kyle Schwarber with his bare hands, I had to find out: Was he really brave or just kind of, how do I put this nicely … an idiot? I asked him what he was thinking as the ball came his way. 

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“I was like, 'Oh, it’s right at us,': he said. “The lady in front of me had a beer, so she wasn’t paying attention. I was like, 'She’s not going to get it, so I’m going to do what I can to get it,' essentially.”

So that’s why Josiah Ludwick, a 38-year-old lifelong Cubs fan, put both hands in front of his chest and caught the line drive from Schwarber, without bobbling it a bit. “I’m just thinking, ‘I hope it doesn’t hurt too much,’” he said, with a big grin on his face.

And?  

“It did, I mean, but you catch the ball and it’s kind of worth it. Thankfully he’s a lefty, so it’s not like he turned on it or anything.”

The pain was definitely worth it. Not only was it the first batting-practice home run ball he’s ever caught at Wrigley Field, but it was off the bat of this series’ undisputed star. Schwarber’s story, coming back to be a productive bat against the Indians after six months away from the game rehabbing a knee injury, has been THE story of the World Series. 

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Ludwick was at the game with his dad, Ron. The family called suburban Chicago home in the 1980s, but they live in Pennsylvania now. Josiah’s in Harrisburg and Ron’s in Lebanon. 

They’re Phillies fans, too, and have attended plenty of Cubs-Phillies games together over the years, both in Chicago and Philadelphia. Both have collected plenty of BP home run baseballs in Philadelphia over the years. Who knew they’d get their first Wrigley BP baseball as the Cubs try to win their first World Series since 1908? 

“My dad called on Monday,” Josiah said, “and said, ‘If I can make it happen, do you want to go?’” His dad knew the answer to that question, of course. 

Like so many fans at Wrigley today (and tomorrow and the next day), just getting into a World Series game at this historic ballpark was incredibly special. And like so many fans, a ticket to one of the three games here is as much about yesteryear as it is the present day. 

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“The first baseball game he ever attended was here,” Ron said. “He was just 4, hadn’t quite turned 4 yet. On a Sunday afternoon, I brought him and his sister down here. His mom had to work … This is where he fell in love with the game, right here.”

And that’s why this unforgettable father-son trip to a baseball game at Wrigley, 34 years after their first one, was something Ron had to make happen. That’s the important thing, not the cost of the tickets on the secondary market or the early-morning flights to get to Chicago. 

The souvenir baseball is a pretty good bonus, though.  

Ryan Fagan

Ryan Fagan Photo

Ryan Fagan, the national MLB writer for The Sporting News, has been a Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2016. He also dabbles in college hoops and other sports. And, yeah, he has way too many junk wax baseball cards.