Cubs Give Baseball Signed By Javy To Boy Whose Ball Was Snatched During Game

CHICAGO — A man who grabbed a game ball meant for a young boy at a Cubs game is being widely criticized on social media.

Cubs first base coach Will Venable tossed a game ball to a boy during Sunday’s Cubs-Cardinals game. The boy didn’t catch it and the ball rolled under the seats. A man sitting behind the boy grabbed it and passed it to the woman beside him.

The incident was caught on TV and the man was quickly criticized on social media: “Stealing a ball from a kid? B0000000,” Sports Illustrated tweeted. Others called the man a jerk (and some less savory names) and suggested the Cubs give the boy a replacement ball.

The team did just that, tweeting out photos of the smiling boy with a new ball autographed by Javy Baez.

But the video didn’t show the whole story, according to a tweet from SportsTalk host David Kaplan. Kaplan tweeted he spoke with Cubs representatives and they saw the man from the video give a game ball to the boy earlier in the game.

“All is well,” Kaplan tweeted. “Guy is A-OK so let it go, people.”

The Cubs ended up winning the game, 7-2.