SEATTLE — Cal Raleigh’s 60th home run put the Mariners’ All-Star catcher into one of the most exclusive clubs in baseball. It also made for a memorable moment in the outfield stands at T-Mobile Park.
During Wednesday night’s 9-2 victory over the Colorado Rockies, which gave Seattle its first American League West title in 24 years, the fan who caught Raleigh’s 60th home run ball gave it away to a boy in the right-field seats.
Team security workers led the child and his father away to have the ball authenticated. The Mariners said the boy traded the ball for a bat signed by Raleigh and an invitation to watch batting practice on the field.
The Mariners now are looking to connect with the man, with senior manager of communications Adam Gresch making a plea on social media for anyone who knows “this incredible fan” to send him a direct message.
The father of the boy, meanwhile, called it a “complete, gracious, sincere, random act of kindness.”
“I told him the lesson: ‘No matter what happens, this is the kind of moment that you should pay forward later in life,'” Galan Ruelos said on “The Gee and Ursula Show.” “It was beautiful, and so heartwarming.”
Ruelos said his 12-year-old son, Marcus, never brought up trying to get money for the ball. The Mariners offered the signed bat and took down the family’s contact information, and they left it at that.
“My son whispered to me and said, ‘Dad, because it’s Cal, I want him to have [the ball],'” Galan Ruelos said. “He was never thinking, are we going to keep it for money? That wasn’t even a thought.
“We have the future MVP, hopefully, and [Marcus] touched history. That’s kind of more precious. He’ll live with that forever.”
Raleigh is one of seven players in major league history to reach 60 home runs in a season, joining Babe Ruth (1927), Roger Maris (1961), Mark McGwire (1998 and 1999), Sammy Sosa (1998, 1999, 2001), Barry Bonds (2001) and Aaron Judge (2022).
With four games remaining, Raleigh has a chance to pass Judge for the AL record. Judge hit 62 homers in 2022 to break the previous AL mark of 61 set by Maris.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.