Royals fan Bruce Williams’ 18th birthday is next month, so his dad gave him a special gift: two tickets to Sunday’s game against the Padres at Kansas City’s Kauffman Stadium.
Williams made the two-hour journey from his home in Stockton, Missouri, with his cousin, Luke, and they were delighted to be seated in part of Kauffman Stadium for the very first time.
“It was the first time I was in the Pepsi Porch and I saw that we were playing against the Padres. Since the pitching of the Royals is so interesting these days, I thought, ‘(San Diego outfielder) Juan Soto is going to put one on the party patio, so I’d better bring my mitt,’ Williams recalled.
In the seventh inning of the Royals 15-7 victory, that was exactly what happened.
“I was like, Man, I wouldn’t even be mad at Juan Soto hitting a dinger as long as it went to me because we’re so far ahead,” Williams said. “And then a few pitches later, he just cracked it out there.
“And I saw it coming towards me, so I quickly put on my glove and straightened up in my chair. Like it was with me. And then suddenly someone was plowing all over me. He bumped into me and pushed me to the side trying to get the ball and I reached over him and grabbed it straight out of the air.”
Ten years ago, Williams had been given a ball by a Cleveland player leaving the field, so he was excited to catch a home run ball. But the tension was gone in an instant as another spectator grabbed Williams’ glove with both hands and grabbed the ball.
After an awkward pause, the thief ran and returned with a pair of jerseys that he tried to hand over to Williams.
“No, I don’t want your shirts,” Williams said. “Give me the ball.”
The man said, “No, I’m not going to” before dropping the jerseys.
Williams said the man, who was also at Friday’s Royals-Padres game, left the scene and left the stadium.
Williams said the jerseys belonged to pitcher Sam Gaviglio, who played in four games for the Royals in 2017. He wore number 62.
In an email, the Royals identified the man who grabbed the ball as Mark Kirsch, who is known for pulling planes and cars in an online series called “Man vs. Impossible’.
“At this time, we are not banning Mark Kirsch from the stadium,” Sharita Hutton, Senior Director of Communications, wrote in an email to The Star.
A fan at Friday’s game said friends had spoken to the man, who identified himself as Kirsch. During that game, Kirsch had acquired at least a dozen baseballs after flying out with Padres outfielders between innings.
Kirsch could not be reached for comment.
a happy ending
After Kirsch left the scene, Williams approached a security guard who said he witnessed the theft.
“I complained to him a little bit about what just happened to me,” Williams said. “And then, about 10 or 15 minutes later, they got someone from guest services there and he brought me a bag full of bobbleheads and a baseball autographed by Bobby Witt.”
It was late in the game, but the guest service representative asked Williams and his cousin to stay after the final.
“We waited around and sure enough he came running back,” Williams said, “and he had a ball signed by Juan Soto showing some of his performance on the ball and on the other side of that, ‘sorry about that.’
“It turned a pretty bad experience into a really good one.”
