He was feeling it before the ball even left the bat.
“Davis hasn’t homered yet tonight,” he texted a friend. “He needs one to keep on his 162 game home run streak. I’m feeling it.”
Through the eyes of Seth Weaver, the Opening Day blast from the bat of Chris Davis was coming directly for him, traveling through the air with a surreally slow speed. However, what happened next is now a mayhemic blur filled with a pair of deflections, some scrapes, and a few bruises. He can only relate what he believes happened, but there is no question that Weaver ultimately raised his arm with a firm grasp on the baseball.
A third-generation Orioles fan from York County, Pennsylvania, Weaver and his family are season ticket holders and routinely make the trip to Camden Yards. The family’s Orioles fanhood began with Weaver’s grandfather who passed away in December of 2011. “Pap” was such a big fan of the Orioles that the entire family is convinced the club’s 2012 successes came from a special “Angel in the Outfield.”
Their seats have been in the left field bleachers for years, and Weaver has come close to home runs in the past, but he had never actually had his hands on one. In his first Opening Day in years the recent graduate of Clemson University grabbed hold of a baseball envied by ball hawks – a record-tying Opening Day grand slam.
But he only cared about the grand slam part.
“To be honest I was more excited about the fact that a grand slam had been hit,” wrote Weaver in an email. “I was nervous my first game of the season was going to be a loss before that point.” Instead, both the Orioles and Weaver won as a team employee approached the prize-holder in hopes of getting the ball back to Davis.
There was no doubt in Weaver’s mind that he was going to give the ball back to Davis hassle-free, but the twenty-three year old wanted something in exchange to remember the moment: at least a picture with Davis and the ball, as well as an autograph.
They took him underneath the stadium in the hallway outside the clubhouse. “They sent a guy out who looked like Gordon Gecko [sic] who tried to drive a hard bargain,” recalled Weaver. To start the conversation, the negotiator offered a pair of autographed baseballs, suggesting Nick Markakis and Adam Jones. Weaver liked the idea, but he still wanted his picture and, most importantly, his family with him. He told them the ball was being held hostage until they brought down his parents and brother, who were all at the game with him. The Orioles agreed.
Weaver then countered the initial offer: a chance to hand the ball to Davis personally and take a picture, and signed balls from Jones, Matt Wieters, and his boyhood hero Brady Anderson. He was told to choose only two of the autographs. He settled on Jones and Wieters and the picture with Davis.
When Weaver finally met Davis, he says the slugger appeared truly gracious during the interaction:
He was genuinely excited about the whole situation. It was very nice to see someone like that smiling like a kid on Christmas. I knew that talking to me wasn’t high on his list of things to do at that point, so I tried to go as quickly as possible. He shook my hand and signed a ball. I got a picture with him and then I brought my family in for a picture. The whole time he was extremely friendly.
After all the pictures, Davis thanked Weaver for the ball and walked away without it before workers yelled for him to come back.
Weaver has doubts the Orioles will ever send him the picture.
Even though Davis treated the Weaver family kindly and was thankful for the opportunity to meet them, Jones acted rudely, angered that he had to sign a baseball. As Weaver and his family were leaving, they walked past Jones. Weaver did not want to ignore the star and not thank him for signing the baseball. “I said, ‘Mr. Jones I wanted to thank you for the autograph, I really appreciate it,’ and then continued walking,” recalled Weaver. According to Weaver’s brother, Jones turned to his family and claimed that they “twisted [his] arm to sign that.” He repeated the same comment to Weaver’s brother.
Weaver was upset about Jones’ comment. “If he had not responded at all I would have been fine with it, I just felt that it was right to thank him. I don’t know why he would go out of his way to say that to my brother,” said Weaver.
Rumors have surfaced recently that, despite his RBI single and the team’s win, Jones was angered by the Twins’ decision to intentionally walk Markakis to load the bases for the center fielder.
Despite Jones’ comment, Weaver still plans to be a fan of the All-Star.
He also plans to be in attendance when the O’s face the Dodgers on April 20th. And yes, he does plan to catch another home run. But he is not going to keep this one either – that one is going to his girlfriend.
One Response
This is not the first time ive heard Adam Jones acting like a douchebag.. Hopefully its not the start of a bad thing with him.