July 12, 1993, was a sizzling evening in Baltimore and Camden Yards, packed to the gills with followers seeking to catch a Home Run Derby ball, felt even hotter.
The Rangers’ Juan Gonzalez and the Mariners’ Ken Griffey Jr. had blasted their technique to seven dwelling runs a bit — beating out heavyweights like Albert Belle, Cecil Fielder and Barry Bonds. Now, the 2 would face off in a playoff, the primary playoff in Derby historical past, to see who was one of the best energy hitter within the sport.
But earlier than they went head-to-head, there was a brief break within the motion.
17-year-old Mark Pallack and his pal, Jim Gates, noticed the pause in play as a chance to get out of the warmth of the right-field bleachers and take a stroll down Eutaw Street — the little highway that goes in between the again of the bleachers and the stadium’s warehouses. Maybe they may get some separation from the suffocating crowds; absorb a few of these cool breezes drifting off the harbor.
“I said to my buddy, I was like, ‘Let’s go get some air for a few minutes,'” Pallack advised me in a telephone name.
But that “short break,” proved to be a lot shorter than anticipated.
All of a sudden, a loud gasp went up from the followers round them and a ball sailed by the sky — rocketing off the brick warehouse. Pallack rapidly sprang into motion.
“I just lunged, just jumped on it,” he remembered. “My back was on the asphalt, on the concrete, and I was just cradling it in my chest. It was crazy. There was at least 30 or 40 people who jumped on me.”
Pallack did not comprehend it within the second, however he had simply snatched up a memento from a house run that might be replayed for the subsequent three many years. One of the best highlights involving one of many coolest athletes of all time.
Ken Griffey Jr.’s 465-foot dinger off Camden Yards’ B&O warehouse.
Eventually, safety cleared out the dogpile. Pallack had some scrapes and bruises however nothing worse for the damage.
“We were just laughing,” Pallack stated. “I had the ball in one hand and was high-fiving [Bill] with the other hand. I was disheveled, but in a state of euphoria.”
Through crowd murmurs and stadium PA bulletins, Pallack quickly realized that this was (and nonetheless is) the one dwelling run ball to ever attain the warehouse on the fly. Realizing the importance of the hit, an Orioles PR individual approached Pallack and supplied to convey him to satisfy Griffey after the competition. (Griffey ended up shedding to Gonzalez within the tiebreaker, however the warehouse homer was the one factor anyone was speaking about).
So, as soon as Gonzalez was topped the champ and the on-field festivities have been over, Pallack and Gates have been ushered down from outskirts of Camden Yards to teenage-baseball-fan-heaven. A spot the place baseball’s greatest stars and celebrities — on the town for the Midsummer Classic — congregated collectively.
“As you can imagine, a 17-year-old kid. Baseball is my thing,” Pallack stated. “All of a sudden Bill Clinton is walking by me, Michael Jordan, Kirby Puckett walking out of the shower — I’m just like, ‘Where am I right now?'”
But as a substitute of specializing in the gamers, the media had descended on Pallack — the child who someway snagged the now well-known warehouse home-run ball. Along with signing a bat for Michael Jordan that weekend, Griffey came to visit to signal the ball for Pallack.
“He took a couple minutes to come over and sign and stuff,” Pallack advised me. “He said, ‘That’s a pretty cool catch.'”
Pallack and Gates, in fact, needed to inform all their mates about their unbelievable evening. Fortunately, a pal was having a home social gathering on the outskirts of the town, again close to the place Pallack lived. The two checked out one another, smiled and knew this might be the right place to make their massive announcement.
Pallack confirmed as much as the entrance door with the ball in somewhat plastic sandwich bag, displaying it for anyone who needed to see. A rubber band held the highest closed. All the partygoers, in fact, had watched the Derby and seen the Griffey homer. They have been shocked to seek out out that their pal Mark was the man who picked it up. In truth, that is precisely what he stored saying to individuals whereas holding up the ball and telling the story: “I’m the guy!”
“I was obviously the most popular kid at the party,” Pallack laughed. “We were all just jumping up and down.”
The subsequent day, Pallack could not wait to indicate the ball to a very good pal, Tiffany, down the road from his home. She could not imagine he had gotten the ball, both. Years later, the 2 would get married — though Pallack would not appear to suppose his getting the ball that evening and exhibiting it to her performed a significant component in her saying sure.
Pallack’s Derby story ended up getting reported in a number of media retailers, together with the Baltimore Sun and Washington Post. He acquired quite a few cash gives for the ball, however needed to maintain the prized possession someplace in Baltimore it might be prominently showcased. He ended up donating it to the Babe Ruth Museum — a spot he is since served on the Board of Directors and stayed very concerned with over the many years.
“Yeah, I’ve gone full circle with it,” he stated.
And, even 30 years later, he has fixed, great reminders of the reminiscence. The clip is handed round on a regular basis on the web as considered one of Griffey’s career-defining moments and, quickly after the homer, the Orioles put up a plaque on the brick it ricocheted off of into Pallack’s palms.
Its marker is there eternally for mates to take selfies with, for future sluggers to take intention at and, most significantly, for Pallack to reminisce with when he is together with his family members again at Baltimore’s ballpark. Warm flashbacks of that wild night again in 1993.
“I showed my daughter,” Pallack stated. “You know, it’s a neat experience because I love, even being 47, going to a baseball game is still one of the great experiences of my life. It’s serendipity that I caught it. We’ll go by there and snap some pictures and just laugh about it. … It’s a great memory.”