Mets Fan Makes Truly Wild One-Handed Catch

Alan Alcantara had his toddler in his other hand
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 1, 2022 1:20 PM CDT

To catch a home-run ball barehanded is impressive enough, but try holding a small child at the same time. A New York Mets fan managed that feat, leading Fox Sports to dub it the "catch of the year, no question about it." Queens resident Alan Alcantara was in his element Tuesday at Citi Field: As he tells the AP, he often went without a glove on the baseball field while growing up in the Dominican Republic. He was holding 1-year-old son Levi with his left arm when he reached out over a railing with his right, catching the home-run ball Starling Carte had launched over the center field wall in the first inning of the game against the Washington Nationals. It bounced once before finding Alcantara's hand.

"I knew I was not going to have time to put the baby down," 31-year-old Alcantara tells the AP. "So I decided to just hold on tight to him, jump on the rail and see if I could catch the ball." He adds, "I did it many times when I was a kid, so why not?" SNY broadcaster Gary Cohen was certainly wowed. "Did he catch that?" he asked, stunned, before declaring that "this man will go viral." One clip of his catch has been viewed more than 1.7 million times on Twitter. Alcantara also had a 2-year-old in tow. He "was super scared because probably [he'd] never seen his dad screaming and acting the way I was acting," he tells the AP. The run gave the Mets a 2-0 lead, which was extended to 10-0 by the game's end. (More baseball stories.)

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