by CONNIE TABBERT
Editor
FORESTERS FALLS — Scott Bell may not remember the date he caught a certain homerun flyball hit by Edwin Encarnacion of the Toronto Blue Jays, but he will remember it was Game 5 of the American League Division Series between the Jays and the Texas Rangers. The winner would advance to the next series, the American League Championship.
It was do-or-die for the Blue Jays, a team Scott has been cheering on since they joined major league baseball in 1977.
“I’ve followed them from Day 1,” he said.
“It was big play-off game,” recalled the 45-year-old Foresters Falls baseball fan at his home Sunday afternoon, four days after the big catch. Game day had been Wednesday, Oct. 5 and it was the sixth inning.
Blue Jays designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion was up to bat. If he hit it hard, it could come right to where Scott was sitting.
“I saw the ball hit and I kept my eyes on it,” he recalled. “I ran down three rows of seats and jumped left in the last two seconds.
“I caught it over hundreds of other fans,” he recalled. “I jumped left. I jumped right in front of other people. I felt the ball go into my glove.”
And this isn’t just any glove, this is a Rawlings baseball glove Scott purchased at Donny Nagora Sports Store in Pembroke when he was 12 years old, using money he earned while working at his parents general store in Foresters Falls. His parents are big baseball fans, so there was no trouble when he bought it.
As a matter of fact, Game 5 was played on the day his mom Ruby turned 81 years old.
Looking at the glove, Scott said, “This glove has played a lot of ball.”
Scott was a shortstop and third baseman for the Queens Line fastball team when he was growing up, one year winning Best Sportsman.
“It’s been a couple of years since I’ve played fastball,” Scott admitted.
However, this past summer he did play in a mix slo-pitch team in Cobden, again using this glove.
“It was a lot of fun,” he said.
Scott noted this is not the first baseball he’s caught. In 1987 he caught a couple of warm-up balls and in 2011, while sitting behind homeplate, a foul ball barely cleared the mesh and he was able to catch it with his open hand.
But, he’s not the only family member with a ball. About six years ago, he took his children, Danielle and David, to a ball game and at one point, Vernon Wells was walking to the dugout after catching a ball.
“While he was walking towards the dugout, everyone was shouting, toss the ball.
“He looked right at us and tossed it. I caught it and gave it to Danielle.”
Going back to the great catch last Wednesday, he recalled he was laying on top of a few other people who were also hopeful of catching the ball. It took about 30 seconds before he even tried to get up, he recalled. People helped him up and then the high-fiving started and people wanted to touch the ball, Scott said.
“It was such a surreal feeling, to see the fans around me and how happy and joyful they were,” he recalled. “Everyone wanted to touch it and high-five me. They wanted their pictures taken with the ball.”
Scott said it took a while for him to notice that it was the tying homerun ball he caught in the sixth inning, which put the Jays back into the game, which they eventually won 6-3.
Scott was able to attend Game 5 of this series when his good friend Art Skidmore, who lives in Guelph and has a flex package of seasons tickets, invited him. And, why did he ask Scott to the game when he lives about six hours away from Toronto?
“I kept bugging him,” Scott said with a laugh. “I’d never been to a play-off game before.”
While Art might have wanted the ball for himself, Scott said, “He was really happy for me.”
Just before leaving home to go to the train, Scott decided to bring the glove with him, which is something he has never done before.
“I knew if Toronto’s big hitters were hitting, the ball would go into the left field or centre,” which is where he would be sitting.
Scott’s notoriety of catching that ball was seen around the baseball world when Sportsnet put out a blurb and photo of the fan who caught that ball.
“That put the Jays back in the game,” Scott recalled.
On the train home, he was interviewed by a reporter and once home, the phone started ringing with area reporters wanting to inteview him.
He was on the front page of the Ottawa Sun and the inside pages of the Ottawa Sun and the Toronto Sun. He was interviewed for Virgin Radio, Toronto Sportsnet, Major League Baseball, MyFM in Renfrew, CBC Ottawa Radio, St. Catharines radio, Team 1200 out of Ottawa, the Renfrew Mercury, the Eganville Leader and now whitewaternews.
“I’m totally surprised at all the attention,” he said, adding, “but I certainly don’t mind the attention. It’s a feel good story. There are lots of baseball fans out there.
“It was a thrill to catch it.”
However, what he won’t know until the moment it happens, is if he will get the opportunity to have Edwin sign the ball.
“He’s awfully busy right now,” he said with a chuckle
The Jays are now playing the Kansas City Royals for the American League Championship Series. The Jays are ahead XXXX.
When Scott arrived home, there was no time to sit idle with this ball, hiding it. He was invited to Cobden District Public School and Champion Public School in Pembroke to show off the ball.
“The kids were very excited,” he said. “They asked some great questions. The staff were quite thrilled at Cobden school,” which is where his wife Jennifer works. He said it wasn’t hard to tell who was and wasn’t a baseball fan.
Scott said while the ball is not a game-winning ball, it’s almost as good.
“People want to touch it,” he said.
When he arrived a little late at church this past Sunday morning, Pastor Kevin Moratz greeted him with, “Where’s that ball?”
Scott is hopeful Edwin doesn’t ask for the ball back, because then he’d be in a quandary.
“I’d like to keep it,” he said, adding, “however, it would be quite a thrill if I met him and he signed it.”
As for the current series the Jays are playing, Scott said he’ll be watching it from the comfort of his own home.
“I don’t think I’ll get back down to a game,” he said. “I’d love to go, but it’s not going to happen.”
Scott will do what he usually does, and that’s watch it on the television at home.
“I always watch the games on TV,” he said.”
As for the outcome of this series Scott wouldn’t say.
“I knew they’d come back against Texas,” he said, adding, “but, Kansas City is a very strong team.”
