tangled my feet and fell down, but I ended up with the ball either way. It wasn’t very graceful. But anyway I remember turning around with the ball in my hand and seeing this sea of thousands of people all reaching out and wanting the ball because this was Barry bonds on his homerun journey. So that was pretty amazing.

So who do you give the ball to when that happens?

They instruct you that…they are very strict in rules. You are not allowed to start a conversation with a player because they’re working. You can’t distract them. You have to be very vigilant about getting out of the way of any play. You have to know if the ball is live. If it is a fair ball that bounces over in your area accidentally, you can’t pick it up. You have to be very aware of what’s going on in the game. They instruct you, when you get a ball, give it to a child. And you must hand it to them. You can’t toss it. You want to make sure there is not a possible injury. So I joke with people, and when I say, “You know because of the risk involved with being the ball dude, I actually got paid to watch the World Series,” which is pretty crazy. So, considering I had the best seat in the house in my opinion. One of my other memories before the World Series was a family that had a mentally challenged teenager. And this kid was really just a sweetheart. He was in his Giants gear, and he was into the game. I don’t know how much he truly understood, but he was really emotionally invested in the game. I got a ball and gave it to a child, and the dad kind of caught my eye and said, “If you get a ball, could you give it to my son here. It would mean the world to him.” I’m going, “Well I can’t control whether I get a ball or not.” Well it turned out I’m there on the third base line, and the Giants bullpen catching coach had got a ball and rolled it over between my feet. I picked it up and was able to go over and give it to this kid. And I…I just can’t tell you how good it made me feel, you know, how excited he was. And then afterwards, the parents wanted to take a picture with me with this kid with the ball. It was really cool. You have the ability to make a difference in someone’s life with the simple act of giving someone a ball. It makes their day. It’s a memory. It’s crazy, I mean people come down to take pictures, and they want autographs. It’s kind of silly, kind of a strange notoriety. The other thing that’s kind of neat about it is, almost every time I do a game, there is someone there from Newman or Ursuline that comes down and says hello. There are graduates from ten or twenty years ago that remember me. Even at the World Series were two or three people that came down and said hello. So the World Series: People were asking me if I thought I would be able to be the ball dude for the World Series and I said “No way, I’m so far down the chain, I’ll never get it.” But I was driving in Petaluma one day when Sue from the Giants calls me up and asks me if I got her email. I hadn’t been able to check it at work, but she said, “I want you to work the game tomorrow.” Well I had to pull over. I almost drove into a field. I couldn’t breathe, I was beside myself thinking this could actually happen. When she asked me if I would be able to make it, I said, “There is no way you can stop me. Absolutely I’ll be there!” The next day was the game. I remember walking around outside the stadium. The energy was so great. Inside the stadium I was positioned on the third base line, exactly where I wanted to be. It was unbelievable to me. I remember sitting on the third base line, and the marines are about twenty feet away holding the flag. There’s a huge American flag stretched out across the entire field. There’s jets flying over the top, and there’s Tim Lincecum throwing to Buster Posey about three feet away from me. I couldn’t absorb it all. There was just so much energy going on. Personally, another highlight of the day was when I was on my way out of the dressing area for the employees Willy McCovey comes along in a golf cart because he was one of the honorary captains at the beginning of the game. And he was one of my boyhood heroes, he was everything to me. I see him in the cart, and I say “Hey Willie Mac,” and he says “How ya doing buddy.” Wow. Combined with all the energy and celebrating from the win, I don’t think I unwound until two in the morning. .