Lifelong Fan Catches Grand Slam Ball

ARLINGTON, Texas - After getting over the excitement of Nelson Cruz’s historic grand slam, some Rangers fans may be wondering who caught the ball.

Ben Doskocil has been a lifelong baseball fan. As a kid he remembers listening to baseball on the radio way past his bedtime. He even played ball in high school and in a semi-pro league.

Now a sucessful Arlington businessman, he’s had Rangers season tickets since the team moved from Washington to Arlington in the 1972.

After an arrangement to split those tickets, fate put Doskocil in the left field seats where Cruz hit the first walk-off grand slam in postseason history.

“Well I happened to be fortunate. The ball boom bounced and I caught it and I’m out of the scramble, eight or 10 people on the floor scrambling for the ball and finally someone said where’s the ball. I said here,” Doskocil said.

Doskocil said he plans to hold on to the ball and doesn’t want to sell it. He does wonder if Cruz might come looking for it at some point, though.

“I don’t have any idea what the outcome of that would be. I don’t even want to think about it. Just autograph it for me,” he said.