‘Most real I’ve ever felt’: Fan who caught Springer’s home run ball savours moment

TORONTO — Michael Angeletti says he knew he would catch George Springer’s home run ball before it actually happened.

The Toronto native was sitting in the front row out in left field at Rogers Centre — wearing a Springer jersey — during Game 7 of the American League Championship Series. The game was a do-or-die matchup between the Blue Jays and the Seattle Mariners, who were tied at three games apiece and both just one win away from clinching a historic World Series berth.

The score was 3-1, with the Blue Jays down in the seventh inning, when Springer stepped up to the plate.

“I was actually texting my cousin — telling him I was front row, about to catch the home run ball — to leave me alone,” Angeletti said.

“And I dropped the phone, caught the ball, and here we are.”

Mere seconds before the swing, Angeletti said he had just told the person sitting next to him that seventh innings are historically big for the Jays.

“All the magic happened in the seventh inning with Bautista and the Rangers way back when,” Angeletti recalled saying, referring to the 2015 American League Division Series game that saw Jose Bautista’s iconic bat flip.

Angeletti said he’d hoped to experience some of that seventh-inning magic, and with one swing of Springer’s bat, he and more than 44,000 other fans in Rogers Centre erupted into roaring cheers.

The three-run home run led the Jays to a 4-3 victory over the Mariners, clinching the Toronto’s first World Series berth since 1993. The Jays will now face off against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the fall classic, with Game 1 set for Friday night.

Angeletti said he’s travelled to 72 countries and five continents, but the feeling of being in the crowd during that moment was unmatched. As the owner of tour company Niagara Toronto Tours, he said he knows what it takes to make an experience memorable.

“Stay unpredictable,” he said, and you might just end up with a piece of baseball history.

“I was tired of being on the couch and scrolling and just passively watching,” Angeletti said. “I needed to feel something real, and that’s why I spent this money tonight.”

“I felt the most real I’ve ever felt in my life.”

After catching the iconic home run ball, Angeletti kept it in a black baseball glove he’d brought to the park, hoping to have it authenticated at the suggestion of fellow fans. Post-game, he was momentarily escorted down to the field by staff, he said, but later had to leave to get home.

He’s open to doing “what’s best for the ball” if it means trading it back to the Blue Jays as a piece of historic memorabilia, he said, but for now he’s content with savouring the moment.

“I feel blessed to be a part of Canadian sports history,” Angeletti said. “I’m a Toronto sports fanatic. I love all our teams, especially the Blue Jays.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2025.

Rianna Lim, The Canadian Press