The Cleveland Guardians fan who went viral this week after he swiped a home-run ball from an 11-year-old girl says he made a “big mistake” and is “utterly sorry.” On the plus side for him, the girl, whom he eventually returned the ball to, expressed her forgiveness.
“I’m so utterly sorry for everything that’s transpired. … It was a heat-of-the-moment thing. I made a bad decision, a lot of bad decisions. I’m paying for it online,” the fan, Max Quinn, told WJW News on Wednesday.
The incident occurred on Monday night during the Guardians’ game against the Rays. After swiping the Daniel Schneemann home run ball from the young girl, reporter Ryan Bass and the Rays made things right by gifting her a ball. The girl’s mom later wrote on social media that Quinn eventually caved under the pressure from other fans and gave her the home run ball “4-5 innings later.”
“It wasn’t the same, but we appreciated him doing the right thing,” she wrote.
Quinn told WJW News, “If I could do it all over again, I would just grab it, given to her and been done with it.”
The 11-year-old girl asked people to forgive him
The 11-year-old girl also appeared, in a video, during Quinn’s interview on the show. She and her mother would have been on the show with Quinn, but her school was having state testing.
“Hi Max, thanks for giving us the ball back,” she said. “We forgive you for it. We know the internet has been going wild over this. We hope they forgive you.”
Quinn said he really appreciates the messages from the girl and her family because he has “learned the internet is a very mean, scary place.”
“I hope that people in the city and people here in Cleveland and Guardians fans and everybody can forgive me, give me a second chance,” Quinn continued. “You know, personally, with my business, stuff like that, that’s all I can ask for.”