Chris Burke's homer might not have been the only history-maker in Sunday's 18-inning victory over the Atlanta Braves. The fan who caught it — Shaun Dean of Porter — also caught Lance Berkman's grand slam shot in the eighth.Someone should buy him tickets to the next series vs. the Cardinals and be sure he is sitting in those Crawford Boxes!
Dean, 25, was sitting in the second row of the Crawford boxes. A client had given tickets to Joslin Construction, where he is comptroller.
"I never caught one in a game before," he said.
But with one out in the eighth, with the bases loaded and the Astros down 6-1, Berkman hit his line drive. Fortunately, Dean was wearing a glove.
"It came right at me," he said, "I just reached over and caught it."
Later — about three hours — Burke came to the plate with two out in the 18th. When he connected, the drive was not on as direct a line as Berkman's but Dean said "it was all just a blur ... (it) came more toward my father-in-law, and he just leaned over and I reached down and caught it."
Soon afterward, "an usher came down and talked to me." He told Dean that the Astros normally offer cash and other considerations to fans who return special home-run balls to the players who hit them.
He said he probably would give the ball to Burke, since the homer made history, for the club and for Major League Baseball, since it ended the longest playoff game ever.
On the way out of the park, Dean was an instant celebrity.
"Everyone was congratulating me, patting me on the back," he said. "I had several people say I should buy a lottery ticket or go to Vegas."
Brad Efron, the chairman of the department of statistics at Stanford University, told ESPN.com that the odds in this particular case are in between 1 in 1,000 and 1 in 5,000.
"Of the 43,000 people there, there are actually only a couple thousand people in the ballpark who can catch a homerun ball," Efron said. "So the odds are not as astronomical."
In Minute Maid Park, there are only 763 seats in left field. Considering that there are 3,903 seats in right field, only about 10 percent of the crowd is in position to catch a home run ball.
According to a team official, Dean will attend practice with the Astros in Houston on Friday and will give the balls back to the team.
The 43-year-old Rocket came out of the bullpen to rescue the Astros and Chris Burke ended the longest postseason game in baseball history with a home run in the 18th inning, lifting Houston over the Atlanta Braves 7-6 Sunday and into the NL championship series.When the Astros won on Burke's walk of homer, Norma and I yelled... immediately it scared Aidan. We had to pick him up and calm down and smile to him - so he knew we were ok. He gets so upset when I raise my voice. I have to be careful when watching dramatic things like this!
"I'm sure proud of the guys," Clemens said. "It's been a lot of work for us. How 'bout the kid?"
Standing next to Clemens, the 25-year-old Burke was beaming.
"I'm just glad I could do my part," Burke said. "It was draining, mentally draining."
[sunday morning edit] Sent my dad a birthday video through email. It is of Aidan wishing him a happy birthday. I had the video link on here, but for some reason it isn't working. I'll see what I can do about that.
