I’m no Ted Williams.

But I could see the rotating, purple seams on the scuffed-up baseball utilised for batting practice twirling towards me in sluggish movement. Each individual strand gyrated, certain for the 1st row "blue" seats on the reduced level of Cincinnati’s aged Riverfront Stadium.

Granted, the ball was not coming at a nine-calendar year-old me at the similar clip as a 96-mph fastball which Williams may well have faced from Bob Feller of the Cleveland Indians. It was not dipping like a slider from the palm of Whitey Ford of the New York Yankees. The "Splendid Splinter" was regarded for these kinds of eager vision that he could choose up the revolution of the ball approaching the plate.

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Outfielder Ted Williams, of the Boston Crimson Sox, poses for an action portrait throughout a Spring Training in March, 1950 in Sarasota, Florida.  (Diamond Visuals/Getty Illustrations or photos)

There is a reason Williams is the last hitter to crack .400 for a period: .406 in 1941.

But this ball wasn’t a fastball dealt from the pitcher’s mound.

This was a sly, no-glance, underhanded toss from the subject degree AstroTurf to the very first row of seats – specifically where the stands lower at a sharp angle to run parallel to the suitable industry line.

And the furtive fling wasn’t even coming from a Big League hurler.

It was coming from Joseph "Stretch" Suba, the longtime (and famous) bullpen catcher of the Houston Astros.

The working day was September 12, 1978. The Reds would go on to defeat the Astros 4-3 that night time. The sport was greatest recognised for Champ Summers (wonderful identify) of the Reds touching up Astros’ pitcher Mark Lemongello (better identify) for the initial house run by the home group into the right discipline "red seats" – the mammoth higher deck at Riverfront Stadium.

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Bullpen catcher Joseph Extend Suba of the Houston Astros throws a pitch through batting practice prior to a video game on September 11, 2011 versus the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park in Washington, DC. (Diamond Photographs)

But to a 9-calendar year-old baseball enthusiast, the Reds victory and Summers’ prodigious jack was an afterthought.

By no means just before had a foul ball, household run or any Significant League ball at any time appear near to me at Riverfront Stadium. And nonetheless in this article I was with my most effective good friend Jamie, leaning around the rail, hectoring Suba for a ball.

We weren’t even confident how to say his identify. But "SUBA" was emblazoned on the again of the Astros’ radical, orange, purple and blue "tequila sunrise" uniform – entire with a variety on the proper pants leg.

Suba was not in the plan. I experienced by no means heard of him. But it was September. I questioned if he may possibly have been a late-year get in touch with-up from the Astros’ AAA affiliate in Charleston.

They used to great large leaguers for tossing balls into the stands. These types of transgressions possibly did not place substantially of a dent in the paycheck of stars like Pete Rose of the Reds or Bob Watson of the Astros. But it was possibly a unique calculus for a bullpen catcher to cough up a ball to a pair of badgering young children.

And out of the blue, at just the proper second, seemingly when the "batting practice ball police" weren’t on the lookout, Suba – flipped a ball upwards toward the seems of our voices.

Suba never ever glanced our way. He never acknowledged us. He stared towards the plate, a catcher’s mitt folded from his midsection as Enos Cabell, Bruce Bochy and Terry Puhl took their cuts in the batting cage.

The ball seemed like it was all Jamie’s. Jamie was taller than me and in a superior place to make the catch. I try to remember Jamie pressing the base of his palms alongside one another, fingers prolonged, just waiting around to clasp it.

But certainly I was not going to allow Jamie to get that ball around me.

A thorough overview of Riverfront Stadium during a Cincinnati Reds Key League Baseball sport circa 1991 in Cincinnati, Ohio.  (Target on Activity/Getty Photographs)

I snapped my proper arm in front Jamie’s outstretched fingers, snagging the ball just over the dark Riverfront Stadium railing. I pulled it in to my upper body like a soccer goalkeeper.

I experienced a Key League ball.

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My dad who took us to the sport was a stickler for manners. He designed absolutely sure I thanked Mr. Suba – and termed him "Mr. Suba." Suba gestured with a nod of his head as batting observe ongoing.

But we weren’t finished.

Hockey may possibly have the hat trick.

But we secured a holy trinity that night. A trifecta of baseballs from batting follow and the sport. A trifecta deserving of close by River Downs.

During the sport, the remaining-handed hitting Jose Cruz of the Astros arrived to the plate. Cruz hit .315 that season. Cruz would lift his still left leg as a pitch approached the plate – uncoiling his bat with the ferocity of a cobra attacking a mongoose. Cruz scalded a shot down the appropriate subject line. He stroked the ball with this sort of velocity its hissing slash by the moist September air, veering into foul territory.

My dad was a great ballplayer in his day. He however performed in an around-40 league at that level. He brought with him to the game a MacGregor-model, Lee May perhaps initially baseman’s glove. Stitched into the pocket of the glove have been the words and phrases "The Major Dipper." But that celestial moniker did not do this glove justice. This issue was like a "black hole." Anything at all that went into that glove never escaped.

A male walked down the aisle behind us, toting a tray littered with brats smothered relish, a crock of popcorn and two Hudepohl beers. Cruz’s frozen rope was heading directly for this man, ambling down the aisle.

But Father flashed the Significant Dipper, backhanding Cruz’s violent line generate.

He almost certainly saved the man’s lifestyle.

And the Hudepohls.

A lazy pop fly came our direction afterwards in the game. It caromed close to the seats like a pinball right before rolling down the aisle toward us. We scooped up that one particular, also.

3 supporters. Three balls.

Boy, Jamie and I would have stories to explain to in Mrs. Turner’s fourth grade class the upcoming early morning. We had only been lovers for a couple of small decades. But we had by no means regarded any individual who bought a ball at a match – let alone 3.

"Stretch" Suba wasn’t Joe Morgan or Johnny Bench or one of the cogs in the Big Crimson Machine. But it turns out he was a fabled figure in Astros lore. Suba labored as Houston’s bullpen catcher for an astonishing 36 years.

Just prior to batting practice was above, I hollered again at Suba. I requested if he would indication the ball. I guess no one was looking at that issue. I handed Suba a black ink pen and he signed it. Because he wasn’t stated in the application, I assumed he scribbled his name as "Steve" Suba. For several years following that, my Dad and I would sometimes spot Suba on Reds Television broadcasts from Houston, warming up Astros pitchers in the bullpen.

"There is "Steve" Suba, we’d say," hardly ever knowing he signed his identify as "Extend." We just couldn’t make out his penmanship.

It took us several years to figure out Suba’s authentic title.

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Which only additional to the lore of our "a few ball night."