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Baseball fans are united in their distaste for a home run ball thief.
Video of a man stealing the ball right out of a teen fan’s glove at a recent Kansas City Royals vs San Diego Padre game went viral over the last few days.
The ball was hit by Padres’ new player Juan Soto right to where the young fan was waiting for it.
However, a nearby man—later identified as Mark Kirsch—had other ideas.
\u201cWatch carefully - the black spandex/beanie guy TAKES THE BALL OUT OF THE GLOVE of the other guy. @royals \u2066@BallySportsKC\u2069\u201d— Bill Spiegel (@Bill Spiegel) 1661720397
In the video above, Soto hits the home run ball almost right into the glove of teen fan Bruce Williams. Williams drove two hours with his cousin Luke to be at the game to celebrate his 18th birthday.
Earlier, Williams had even told his cousin:
“Hey you know Juan Soto is going to hit one to me just watch.”
And then it happened.
The hit from Soto flew through the air and Williams was ready to catch it.
However, Kirsch decided he couldn’t let that happen. The man in the beanie grabbed Williams’ glove and stole the ball.
Fans were upset at this turn of events.
\u201c@BillSpiegel @Royals @BallySportsKC I'd say heat of the moment, two people going for the ball. Except he looked right into the glove and saw that it was not the same color as his glove. He knew exactly what he was doing.\u201d— Bill Spiegel (@Bill Spiegel) 1661720397
\u201c@KC_Tiger_Jon @BillSpiegel @Royals @BallySportsKC Hope I run into him at a game one of these days.\u201d— Bill Spiegel (@Bill Spiegel) 1661720397
\u201c@100FMthePIKE @JuanSoto25_ @Royals Look at him running the second it happened too. He knew he messed up but decided to be a coward instead of owning up.\u201d— 100.1 FM The Pike (@100.1 FM The Pike) 1661941908
\u201cSotto Home Run Balls are worth $300 on eBay. If he has the career that the Padres think he will have it could be worth 2000 in 3-4 years. \nThe guy who stole a ball from a kid at the #Royals game is trash. Even if he offered him a worthless jersey after he stole it. \nBan him @MLB\u201d— Ghost of The Adams Mark Hotel (@Ghost of The Adams Mark Hotel) 1661736124
\u201c@heyscan What's up with that A-hole who stole Soto's homerun from the Royals' fan who caught it?!?\u201d— Bob Scanlan (@Bob Scanlan) 1661719856
After stealing the ball, Kirsch seemed to stare down Williams.
The teenager said:
“I was just kind of scared."
"I didn’t know what on earth was going on, I just wasn’t trying to fight him.”
Luckily, this led to a happy ending and a pretty good birthday for Williams.
The Kansas City Royals gave him two autographed balls—including one by Soto—along with some other merch for his trouble.
So things weren’t so bad.
\u201cThank you royals for turning a crazy experience into something I\u2019ll never forget! \u2066@JuanSoto25_\u2069 \u2066\u2066@Royals\u2069 \u2066@BwittJr\u2069 and a HUGE thanks to my man \u2066@NicholasPieroni\u2069 and \u2066@RoyalsAssist\u2069\u201d— Bruce (@Bruce) 1661799658
\u201c@Bruceman1827 @JuanSoto25_ @Royals @BwittJr @NicholasPieroni So happy to help and Happy Birthday. Cant wait to see you back out here.\u201d— Royals Guest Service (@Royals Guest Service) 1661800731
\u201c@DSinghDesi @JuanSoto25_ @Royals @BwittJr @NicholasPieroni @RoyalsAssist Thanks man I appreciate it!\u201d— Poora Ullu (@Poora Ullu) 1661803759
\u201c@ink5 Yes he left as fast as he possibly could. He was scared\u201d— Tom Ink (@Tom Ink) 1661816636
\u201c@iambeaucarlson @JuanSoto25_ @Royals @BwittJr @NicholasPieroni @RoyalsAssist He really seems like an awesome person!\u201d— beau carlson (@beau carlson) 1661884198
As for Kirsch, the home run ball thief?
He likely isn’t done. Some commenters pointed out this isn’t the first time he’s done something like this.
During a game last week, fans noticed Kirsch trying to force a catch on a ball that didn't quite leave the field.
\u201cPratto sends a two-run blast up, up, up and outta here!\n\nTV: Bally Sports Kansas City\nStream: https://t.co/OMpdBoSLVY\n#Royals\u201d— Bally Sports Kansas City (@Bally Sports Kansas City) 1661564573
\u201c@BallySportsKC It\u2019s the same guy wow\u201d— Bally Sports Kansas City (@Bally Sports Kansas City) 1661564573
\u201c@BallySportsKC This is the same guy who grabbed the ball out of the kids glove, who is this clown?\u201d— Bally Sports Kansas City (@Bally Sports Kansas City) 1661564573
\u201cBeanie boy doesn\u2019t seem able to catch a ball. Douchebag.\u201d— joe (@joe) 1661809907
Because of this, fans are calling on the Royals to ban Kirsch from future games.
In an email to The Kansas City Star, the Royals identified Mark Kirsch
Royals' Senior Director of Communications Sharita Hutton wrote in the email:
"At this time we are not banning Mark Kirsch from the stadium."
Kirsch had been posting content online in a webseries titled Man vs Impossible where Kirsch called himself "The All-American Super Hero of Hope."
As of this writing, Kirsch's Vimeo account appears to have been largely shut down.