The Loop
Minor league baseball announcer catches foul ball, calls the whole play, is very proud of himself
Multitasking is one of adulthood's most important skills. If you can hold a conversation while also checking the score under the dinner table, then you're gonna go far in this life. Just ask Marc Schwartz, the previously unknown play-by-play guy for the Somerset Patriots, who went viral on Thursday for the kind of thing that only ever happens at minor league ballparks. In the top of the 7th with the Pats trailing the High Point Rockers 3-1, a Rockers batter fouled a pitch straight back into Schwartz's booth, who barehanded it like an old pro, calling the whole thing as if it was a routine fly out to center.
"I am very proud of myself!" Schwartz exclaimed while tossing the ball back to the crowd, and honestly we can't blame him. These moments come around once or twice a lifetime, so enjoy it while it lasts, Marc. It's all downhill from here.
If we were in a more cynical mood, however, we might call bullsh*t on this whole thing. The camera shakes and loses sight of the ball entirely, which suddenly appears in Marc's hands. "I hope somebody got video of that," Schwartz also says, casting a furtive glance at the camera man behind home plate. The whole thing smells fishier than a Red Lobster dumpster, but you have to pick your battles carefully in this business and for now we choose to believe.
Either way, Schwartz fared a hell of a lot better than his play-by-play compatriot down in Jacksonville, who had a similar run-in with a foul ball last year and only ended up with a nuked MacBook to show for it. Keep your head on a swivel, folks.
