So, does it count?
On Wednesday night, fans at Wrigley Field were wondering whether or not the best catch they'll see all year would actually be an out.
During the sixth inning of their 3-2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo hawked Ryan Braun's foul ball all the way into the stands.
Knowing the Cubs only had one out and the Brewers with a runner on base, Rizzo also had the awareness to quickly get the ball back to an infielder. That's heads-up baseball right there. Coaches love this stuff:
Originally, umpires ruled no-catch because they didn't think that Rizzo was still in the field of play when he made the grab. As Red Sox outfielder Mookie Betts painfully learned in July, MLB's rulebook doesn't allow for players to simply hop over walls, chill with fans and catch fly balls for outs.
After a short conference, the umps found that Rizzo had one foot on the tarp (which is technically on the field of play) and one foot on the wall when he secured the ball. Catch, confirmed!
Let's talk about this tarp though, because Rizzo dug his damn spikes into the thing to prop himself up into a better position to make the play. (Poor tarp.) Aside from its obvious use during rainy weather, Rizzo's catch was probably the most practical use of a baseball field tarp MLB has ever seen.
Depending on where they were sitting, fans along the first baseline were both horrified and pumped at Rizzo's actions. The woman sitting right below the 240-lb. Rizzo ducked for cover as he made his lunge into the crowd.
Her hand-over-heart sigh of relief says it all.
WHEW. GREAT PLAY, BUT HOLY HELL, MAN, THAT WAS CLOSE.
Also on HuffPost:
