Balls: This Kids Got 'Em

Well played, kid. Well played indeed.

Note To Fathers Everywhere: If You're Gonna Drop Your Child To Go After A Foul Ball, At Least Catch It...

...this way you at least have a souvenir of the exact moment your marriage ended.  I don't think she's buying your whole "It was coming right at her so I had to drop her for own safety" story.

New Fan Steps Forward To Claim Ownership Of Wright Foul Ball

"Ballgate" has been all the rage this week.  In case you missed it, there was one of those big media dust-ups about nothing this week when a man trying to snag a ball for his kid inadvertently, or perhaps "advertently" robbed the kid David Wright was actually throwing the ball to.

In the end everyone received balls with perhaps the biggest pair going to media outlets nationwide who ran with the story and tried to turn it into some kind of grand social commentary about how we steal foul balls in America.

But there is another side to this story.  Loyal Apple reader Richard Madison is claiming that Wright was actually aiming for him...in the Promenade.  Madison turned to us when no one else would listen.  We met Madison at Citi Field during the off day on Monday and he walked us through it.

"I was sitting up here in 520 and here comes Wright towards the dugout.", Madison told the Apple.  "Even from 375 feet away we very clearly locked eyes.  He goes to toss me the ball and these greedy jerks in the field level knock it down before it can reach me."

The Mets were able to arrange for everyone in the Field Level who was involved to get a ball that day but it would seem Madison was left out in the cold.

"They just don't care about the fans in the Promenade.", says Madison.  I'm not asking for much.  Just a hand signed ball by David Wright delivered personally to my door by Wright with a handwritten apology from Fred Wilpon.  Is that too much to ask?  I think not."

We caught up with Wright at a charity function on Monday night.  When we brought up Madison, Wright's response was simply, "Who let you clowns in here?"

Complicating the matter is the fact that a fourth party is now claiming ownership as well.  Famed ball-grabber Zack Hample is also claiming ownership based on the principle that all balls that enter the stands belong to him.

Will Madison ever get his ball?  Will David Wright's restraining order against The Apple hold up in a court of  appeals?  Only time will tell.

All articles featured on The Apple are fictitious. No Mets were harmed in the writing of this story. Thanks to Richard Madison for allowing us to skewer him in the Apple.  If you want The Apple to make fun of you, send your pics to readtheapple@gmail.com