KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -
It was probably one of the best catches made at Monday night's All-Star Home Run Derby and the man who made the catch didn't even have a glove.
Kansas City, MO, police officer Matthew Smith played a little baseball growing up, but he never thought he'd make a play like the one he did at an All-Star event.
"As soon as he hit that, I knew it was coming right for me, you could just tell," Smith said. "You think ‘don't drop the ball or 50,000 plus (people) will boo you' so I made the catch."
Smith did what most would do after the catch, he gave the ball to a young fan.
"We saw him, he was a little boy with an Eric Hosmer jersey on and he was trying to get a ball so bad all day long and never was able to get one so we told ourselves if we got one we would give it to him," Smith said.
The Royals later decided to give Smith a baseball for his son, who was at home the night of the Home Run Derby, as well as for himself.
Many fans are hoping they get a shot at a home run ball Tuesday, so much so that some started tailgating about 10 a.m.
"It's incredibly cool. As a Royals fan, a lifelong Royals fan, we waited for a big event at Kauffman Stadium for a long time so this is great," Jon Blumenthal from Omaha, NE, said.
"This is very cool being here for 19 years now and having the All-Star game here in town it's awesome. It's just the whole town is excited," Bill Holland from Gladstone, MO, said.
"Oh it's amazing, it's obviously never happened in my lifetime and, when it was announced, I made plans to come because it may not happen again in my lifetime so we're very, very excited, yeah," fan Michael Moore said.
Several fans KCTV5's Alan Shope talked to Tuesday said they still didn't have tickets to the game. They said they came to tailgate and will try to get some tickets and, if not, they'll be watching the game on a television in the parking lot.
Copyright 2012 KCTV (Meredith Corp.) All rights reserved.
Courtesy: @kcpolice
