A Cincinnati Reds baseball fan Jacob Kingsley told reporters, “(As a dad) you have to always be expecting the unexpected and be ready for anything to be flying out of whatever.” He should know. On Tuesday, April 26th, 2022, Jacob and his wife took their 11-month-old son Shepherd to his first Cincinnati Reds game. Jacob told his wife before the game he would protect their son if a foul ball came close to their seats, which were located about 15 rows from the field. Ms. Kingsley said she was anxious about the ball hitting their son and told her husband to be on constant lookout for foul balls. She said, “The entire game I was like, ‘Are you watching, are you watching?’”

Then a foul ball actually zoomed in their direction. Shepherd was strapped to his father’s chest in a baby carrier and was enjoying a bottle when a foul ball popped over the protective net and headed in their direction. “When I saw the ball, I was like, ‘OK, this is my time,’” Jacob said in an interview. “I gotta step up.”

The ball continued flying in the direction of Jacob, who was using his left hand to feed his son his bottle. His right hand, however, was free. “It was just coming right towards me, and I was like, ‘I can’t not try to catch it,’” said the 26-year-old Cincinnati resident. “So I just reached my hand out—there wasn’t anybody right next to me—and I made the catch.”

People on social media praised Jacob for his deft catch. “Bottle didn’t even come out. Legend,” one user tweeted. Another said: “Highlight of the Reds season so far.”