Chicago Cubs: Video "made a national villain out of an innocent man"
A man at a Chicago Cubs game was slammed as a "heartless Cubs fan" after a viral video showed him taking a ball when a little boy didn't catch it. However, there was more to the story.
People who say they witnessed the incident said the man actually helped the boy and other kids get foul balls earlier in the game, CBS Chicago reported.
The unidentified man in the viral video was lambasted on social media after a clip of the incident showed Cubs first base coach Will Venable tossing a ball to the little boy. When the boy missed the catch, the man in the video -- sitting behind the boy -- picked the ball up and handed it to a woman.
Twitter users were horrified that the man would hand the ball to someone other than the boy, and many blasted the adults in the video for appearing to steal the kid's ball. "The 1st unwritten rule of ⚾️ is that if a player/coach specifically throws a ball to a fan, they get the ⚾️ whether or not they catch it. ESPECIALLY if it's a kid," one fan wrote.
But Chuck Mycoff, who says he was sitting next to the man in the viral video, said, "TV got this all wrong."
"He had already helped that kid get a ball. He gave two more away to kids also. He was a great guy," Mycoff tweeted.
Mycoff also said the man in question helped two other kids get foul balls during the game. He called the incident a mind-blowing experience.
"I just kept seeing all these things and I'm going 'boy that's crazy.' In fact, I'm still seeing them," he said.
Another fan, Jeff Rose, tweeted that he was sitting near the man and that the man helped the boy "snag a ball a few innings before."
The Chicago Cubs spoke to the boy's family.
The family "was deeply dismayed to hear about the terrible accusations," the Cubs said in a statement. "A video ... has made a national villain out of an innocent man."
The man was on his first trip to Wrigley Field and The Cubs said they hope this didn't ruin it.
CBS Chicago reports that the man in the video was fearing for his life.
