DALLAS - A Texas baseball fan who prompted a public outcry when he knocked aside a 4-year-old boy to get a foul ball now says he will give the ball to the youngster, the Texas Rangers announced.
The fan, Matt Starr, also agreed to send a letter of apology to the family of Nick O'Brien and buy them tickets to future Rangers games, a club official said Wednesday.
"The fan let it be known to us that he wanted to give the ball back, and we informed the family that it indeed is going to happen," said John Blake, Rangers senior vice president.
Club spokesman Gregg Elkin said the Rangers did not influence Starr. "He did this on his own, through an intermediary," Elkin said.
No one answered the telephone at Starr's home Wednesday evening, and he has not publicly responded to the criticism. The Dallas Morning News identified him as a married, 28-year-old landscaper and former youth minister.
Starr, who was sitting behind Nick at a game in Arlington on Sunday, knocked the boy against the seats as he dived to get the foul ball. Fans started chanting "Give him the ball!" but he wouldn't give it up.
"I couldn't believe someone would do something like that to a 4-year-old boy," said Nick's mother, Edie O'Brien.
O'Brien said she swatted the man with a cardboard fan and called him a jerk, among other names. "I said, 'You trampled a 4-year-old boy to get this ball,' and he said, 'Oh, well,'" she told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Wednesday, adding that the man seemed proud he got the ball.
Video shows Nick was standing up as the man dived across the boy's seat to grab the ball at Nick's feet. Starr's leg strikes the boy, and the boy is jostled a second time as the man stands up with the ball and appears to exchange words with the mother.
Nick wasn't hurt, but fan outrage mushroomed, and even Rangers announcer Tom Grieve voiced his disapproval on television, calling Starr "the biggest jerk in this park."
The Rangers and the visiting St. Louis Cardinals quickly made sure Nick got souvenirs of his own - two bats and four baseballs, including one signed by Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan, a former Ranger.
|
