By SAM WEINMAN
The (Westchester, N.Y.) Journal News
NEW YORK - From afar, perhaps it looked like fan Michael Appelbaum was trying to help out the New York Yankees by letting a Mark Bellhorn home run bounce off his chest in the left-field stands in the top of the fourth inning Tuesday night. It would have been a clever plot, a chance to dupe umpires into thinking the ball never cleared the fence.
There was only one problem.
That wasn't what Appelbaum was thinking.
"I went for it and I missed," Appelbaum said from his seat in the first row of Section 122.
Replays would reveal just that in the moments following the crucial play. Appelbaum's ball bounced off his chest and back into left field, and as soon as the umpires realized as much, a home run was ruled, and the Boston Red Sox had a 4-0 lead in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series.
So history will show that Appelbaum wasn't Jeffrey Maier, the young Yankees fan who in the 1996 ALCS turned what appeared to be a Derek Jeter out into a home run when he reached over the fence and snagged the ball out of mid-air. But Appelbaum also wasn't Steve Bartman, the maligned Chicago fan who interfered with Cubs outfielder Moises Alou on a foul-ball play in left field in last year's NLCS. On that play, Alou had his hand on a sure out. Here, Yankees left fielder Hideki Matsui never had a chance at Bellhorn's ball.
Instead, Appelbaum was just a fan - albeit somewhat of a clumsy fan - who missed out on a chance at a souvenir. But at least he and daughter Mia got to be on TV. Asked if the ball was a home run, Mia wouldn't let her allegiance to the Yankees stand in the way of the truth.
"Yes," she said.
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