Vinik Saves New England
Hedge fund manager Jeff Vinik’s bag of tricks include more than misdirection plays. As a limited partner in the Red Sox he is entitled to choice seats and is worth his weight in gold. He attended game two of the recently completed ALDS with his son, Danny Vinik, who snagged a barely foul ball at a crucial time, enabling the Sox to move on to victory and advance to the ALCS.
Of course, with the Yankees out of the hunt, who really cares?
The Red Sox were trailing by a run in the bottom of the fifth, with the tying run on second base and one out, when Ramirez fouled back a pitch from Angels starter Kelvim Escobar. Catcher Jeff Mathis tracked it toward the section of seats near the Red Sox’ dugout, reaching over a row of photographers with his mitt and leaning in toward the first row of fans.
The ball was perhaps inches from his mitt when a young fan in the front row, with the benefit of superior positioning, reached above it to snag the ball out of the air. Mathis slammed his fist into his glove angrily as the fan celebrated, and the game—and the Ramirez at-bat—went on.
New England, meet Danny Vinik, 17, the son of a Red Sox limited partner. Unlike other infamous fan-fly-ball encounters—Jeffrey Maier at Yankee Stadium in 1996, Steve Bartman at Wrigley Field in 2003—Vinik appeared well within his rights to catch the ball where he did, clearly out of the field of play. Fortunately for him, it was the home team—his father’s team—that benefited.
“I still can’t believe it,” Vinik said, when he spoke to reporters outside the Red Sox’ clubhouse, while the game wore on. “ . . . Just unbelievable, amazing.”
Ramirez, Red Sox Walk Off With a 2-0 Series Lead
Washington Post
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