How Soler’s HR ball wound up at Astros fans’ apartment party originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
Braves slugger and former Cubs outfielder Jorge Soler hit a ball out of Minute Maid Park in Game 6 of the World Series on Tuesday.
Literally.
What happened to the home run ball after that is an incredible story about an opportunistic Astros fan winding up with a piece of baseball history.
According to reports from ESPN and the Houston Chronicle, Manuel Ramos, an Astros fan, attended a party at his brother’s apartment located just outside the ballpark. Soler’s 446-foot three-run homer in the third inning carried over the train tracks at Minute Maid and rolled down the sidewalk.
The ball sat there (behind a chain link fence) for about 10 minutes, according to ESPN’s Jesse Rogers, enough time for Manuel, his brother Richard and Richard’s wife to make their way down from the apartment.
As Richard’s wife, Shawnda, talked to a security guard, Manuel jumped the fence, grabbed the ball and the trio returned to the apartment.
Unreal.
Soler’s homer will go down in history as the drive that kick-started Atlanta in their championship-clinching win, which snapped a 26-year title drought. It’s obviously a piece of history, something not only Soler — the series MVP — might want, but perhaps the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Manuel, who joked he’d negotiate an exchange for the ball starting at $1 million, recognized the significance of the ball.
“It’s definitely a souvenir for someone,” he told Matt Young of the Houston Chronicle. “It would be a prized possession I’m sure. Seriously, it’s not about money for me though.
“I’m all about the H and an Astros fan for life, but if the Braves or [Soler] want it, I’d be open to it.”
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