A child cries after missing out on a foul ball in this screen grab from a YouTube video.
The next time you're at a baseball game, you may want to think twice about scrambling to catch that foul ball. After a recent game between the New York Yankees and the Texas Rangers, one couple is being slammed for failing to offer their prize catch to the three-year-old sitting next to them. The ball had been hit foul, and was thrown into the stands by Rangers' first baseman Mitch Moreland.
Their jubilation – and apparent faux pas – was caught on tape and has now gone viral.
As blogger Carolyn Castiglia put it: "Rather than toss the ball to the kid, the couple took photos of their prize and completely ignored the child. This was all caught on tape by the Yankees camera crew, and their announcer, Michael Kay, mocked the couple on air."
Parents and sports fans have been weighing in, mostly vilifying the couple for not passing the ball along to their pint-sized neighbour, who is pictured crying his eyes out.
Blogger Buzz Bishop writes, "The first rule of sports is: Give it to the kid. If a puck goes over the glass, if a ball goes into the stands, if a player is handing a stick over the boards, the rule is: Give it to the kid."
(Mr. Bishop allows that the impulse can go too far, as in the case of one dad who died trying to nab a ball. "Shannon Stone leaned over the fence at the Texas Rangers' stadium trying to make sure his son caught a ball. He had caught a ball at his first game, and he wanted to do the same for his son. He leaned too far, and died.")
But others have pointed out that in the rush to blame the couple, armchair critics may have missed a few things.
Ms. Castiglia wonders whether always giving the kid the ball might breed entitlement: "Isn't there an opportunity here to teach children they can't always get what they want?"
She also points out that one of the TV anchors who covered the item called the woman who kept the ball a "gold digger." It turns out this couple is getting married this weekend, she writes, and will be a blended family of seven.
"They say they love children and never meant to hurt anyone."
Where do you stand on the give-the-kid-the ball theory of sports fandom?