A grown Ohio man who snatched a home run ball from a young girl at a Cleveland Guardians game has admitted it was a “bad decision” after facing intense backlash online.
Max Quinn was caught on live television wrestling a baseball from 11-year-old Evelyn as the Guardians played the Tampa Bay Rays at Progressive Field on Monday.
“I’m so utterly sorry for everything that’s transpired… It was a heat-of-the-moment thing,” Quinn told WJW two days later. “I made a bad decision; a lot of bad decisions. I’m paying for it online.”
The now-viral video, captured by the live broadcast, showed Quinn and the girl both rushing for the ball after the Guardians’ Daniel Schneeman hit a two-run homer to right field. The ball landed near Evelyn, but Quinn swooped in and snatched it away before raising it over his head.
Quinn, a local business owner, received immediate backlash over the shameful moment. He later told the local news station that while he saw Evelyn’s outstretched glove, he “didn’t know it was a little girl” and was not acting with malicious intent.
Footage later showed the girl becoming emotional after a NewsNation reporter covering the game for Rays TV network stepped in to bring her another baseball, according to Fox 8. Meanwhile, Evelyn’s little brother went up to Quinn to ask for the ball, but he refused. He later realized that was “a big mistake.”
“I went back to my seat, and I heard it from the fans and the people… I was sitting there, and I’m like, ‘I won’t be able to sleep at night if I don’t give this ball back,’” he said. Quinn gave the ball to Evelyn several innings later.
The 11-year-old told WJW that she forgives him, and her mother said the family is ready to move on from the incident. Even though Quinn returned the ball, the damage of the viral footage was done. Social media users enraged by his actions identified him as the owner of Uncover Vintage in nearby Lakewood, and the store’s Google page was quickly flooded with one-star reviews, though most appeared to have been taken down by Thursday.
“I’ve also learned the Internet is a very mean, scary place. A lot of people have said a lot of really mean things,” he said. “I’ve handled it. I’ve tried to block it out and get away from it, but people find a way to say stuff and try to get in contact with me.”
Evelyn and her family hope that the social media users harassing Quinn can also forgive him. In a pre-recorded video shown to Quinn during his interview with WJW, Evelyn said, “Hi Max, thanks for giving us the ball back. We forgive you for it. We know the Internet has been going wild over this. We hope they forgive you.”
The girl’s mother had appeared on local radio earlier Wednesday and said the family had “no ill feelings” toward Quinn, and just hoped people would stop bothering him over his mistake, according to the report. Quinn said that if he could do it all over again, he would have given her the ball immediately.
“I’m just trying to do good by myself and my business,” he said. “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… That’s all I can ask for.”
