Sinisi Defeats Meathead, Snags First Foul Ball
Cincinnati Ballhawk Wins the Scramble For Hotly-Contested Ball
by Alan Schuster, October 5, 2011Sinisi (far right) poses for a post-game photo with fellow ballhawks.His hometown Cincinnati Reds failed to make the playoffs, but nevertheless Rocco Sinisi's season ended on a high note. "Yes, it finally happened," he said. "that all allusive Foul Ball! I've been chasing that thing for a few years now." Sinisi's big moment happened last month amidst a big crowd of almost 40,000 at Great American Ballpark. Late in the game, Sinisi and fellow ballhawk Michael Sachs took some seats behind the Reds dugout in pursuit of foul balls. It wasn't long before Corey Hart of the Brewers sent one their way. "I saw him foul off the ball, and it started heading right back towards me. It was so surreal, I was like, is this really going to happen? YES, it's really going to happen!" Unfortunately, another fan who Sinisi describes as a "meathead" tried to intercept the ball with his bare hand. "A foul ball tends to be a magnet for 'meatheads' that want to show their girlfriends how cool and tough they are!" he remarked. The ball hit the meathead's hand, smacked off Sinisi's glove, and fell to the ground. A scramble ensued, and Sinisi came out victorious amidst a sea of hands grabbing for the ball. It was his first career foul ball, and he also finished the year with a total of 273 balls, good for 7th place on the leaderboard. A relatively new ballhawk, Sinisi is already looking ahead to next season. "Now that I've got that goal out of the way, maybe I can snag some more!" he said. "Next year's goal is HOME RUN balls." Check out Rocco Sinisi's complete collection on his Member Page