It’s about an hour before a baseball game between the Chicago White Sox and the Boston Red Sox. Matt M. is standing quietly near the first-base dugout at Comiskey Park. Want to know how to leave a major-league game with a baseball? Keep an eye on this 14-year-old from Schaumburg. “One game I got five balls,” he said.
How he does it is pretty simple. He knows the players’ names. That’s important because during batting practice the White Sox players wear jerseys that have their numbers, but not their names.
So, while other kids yell, “Hey, No. 30” to a player walking around near the batting cage, Martin calls out outfielder Magglio Ordoez’s last name. And sure enough, Ordoez tosses him a ball.
Just like that, Matt has another baseball for his collection.
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