The feel-good baseball fan story of the year, a special moment between father and daughter, may have been altered some to make the moment even more special.
On Tuesday night in South Philadelphia during the Phillies-Nationals game outfielder Jason Werth fouled a pitch back toward Citizen Bank Park's upper deck. A fan in the first row leaned daringly over the railing and made a remarkable catch.
The often critical crowd cheered loudly with approval and the fan, Steve Monforto, awarded his young daughter the ball--who apparently thought it was an opposing teams' home run--who then threw it back towards the field. The crowd sighed and the heartwarming moment was all caught on tv.
What viewers at home didn't see, however, was what happened just after the little girl released the ball. It was at this point that Monforto lunged in an attempt to save the souvenir.
"It was the first foul ball I had ever caught and I really didn't want to lose it," said Monforto. "To be honest I didn't even realize a net was below. I figured the crowd on the first level would break my fall."
Monforto was quickly swallowed by the safety net (above photo) lining the edge of the upper deck, climbed out without the ball, as it had cleared the net, and embraced his daughter.
The television delay allowed the production team at Comcast SportsNet to edit out the diving father and only showed him hugging his daughter after he had climbed back into his seat.
"We felt it made a better story without the diving," said Comcast SportsNet's chief production manager, Garry Trumble. "I think we made the right call."
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