Child moved from seat at Diamondbacks game after fan interference on potential Tommy Pham home run
Every kid who goes to an MLB game with a baseball glove dreams of catching a home run, but the experience turned sour for one young fan on Friday at an Arizona Diamondbacks game.
In the seventh inning of the D-backs' game against the visiting Cincinnati Reds, Arizona outfielder Tommy Pham hit a deep fly ball that seemed destined to go over the fence. However, the ball was low enough for Reds rookie outfielder Spencer Steer to attempt to rob Pham's homer.
Steer leaped and came down with ... nothing. Upon further review, it became clear what happened: a young D-backs fan basically pulled the ball out of Steer's glove into his own.
The play was called on the field as a home run for Pham, but an umpire review overturned it, and it was called an out on fan interference.
A young fan robbed Spencer Steer of robbing a Tommy Pham home run but the call was overturned and Pham was called out pic.twitter.com/G6MptDkr1N
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) August 26, 2023
The slo-mo view of the catch makes it difficult to tell if the fan really cost Pham a homer. The ball was in Steer's glove, yes, but only after bouncing off the kid's glove over him. Either way, it's a pretty textbook case of fan interference for the home team.
And they are now reviewing a potential fan interference call on a HR where Spencer Steer thought he had the catch... after review they ruled it an out pic.twitter.com/MoZCGPbmKZ
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) August 26, 2023
The child, who received "MVP" chants during the video review, was later seen being escorted from his seat while getting high-fives from fellow fans along the aisle. The Diamondbacks broadcast later reported that the child and his family weren't ejected from Chase Field, just relocated.
The kid that took Tommy Pham’s home run ball out of Spencer Steer’s glove getting high fives as he’s escorted out and was getting ‘MVP’ chants during the video replay. #Dbacks #ArizonaBorn pic.twitter.com/tZH2lAEll6
— Steve Sher (@stevesher_7) August 26, 2023
The Diamondbacks went on to win 10-8, with Pham going 1-for-4 with two RBI. Arizona's record sits at 68-61, with a 1.5-game lead on the Reds and San Francisco Giants for the third and final NL wild-card spot.
