A Cleveland Guardians fan found himself in hot water after he took a home run ball from an 11-year-old girl during a game on Monday. In the face of considerable backlash, he later acknowledged that it was a “wrong decision.”
Max Quinn recounted the incident, which occurred in the bottom of the fifth inning after Guardians’ player Daniel Schneemann hit a two-run home run. Quinn described it as a “spur of the moment” action. “I’m so sorry for everything that happened,” he told WJW on Wednesday. “I made a bad decision, a lot of bad decisions, and I’m facing the consequences online.”
A viral video from the game shows Quinn catching the home run, then a ball falling near Evelyn, the girl who had come down to try to retrieve it. As she reached for it, Quinn ran over and grabbed it instead.
He later claimed he didn’t realize it was a young girl at first, noting that all he saw was a glove extended toward the ball. Evelyn’s 11-year-old brother approached Quinn, asking for the ball back, but Quinn declined.
“I made a lot of mistakes that night,” he admitted. It wasn’t until he returned to his seat that he truly understood the impact of his actions. “I heard it from the fans… I thought, ‘If I don’t get this ball back, I won’t be able to sleep at night,'” he reflected.
Eventually, Quinn did return the ball to Evelyn, but he acknowledged he should have acted more quickly. “I didn’t do it the right way. If I could do it all over again, I would have just handed it to her,” he remarked.
The fallout didn’t stop after he returned the ball. His store, Uncover Vintage, received a flurry of negative reviews online, and he had to shut down his social media accounts due to threats and harassment. “It’s been a tough 24 to 36 hours,” he said. “I’ve learned that the internet can be a cruel place.”
While the situation sparked outrage online, Evelyn expressed forgiveness toward Quinn. In a video message shared during an interview, she thanked him for returning the ball and hoped others might follow her example. “Hey Max, thanks for giving me the ball back. I forgive you,” she said. “I get that the internet is upset about this.”
Evelyn’s mother, Nikki DeVore, also went on a local radio show, stating that she held “no ill will” toward Quinn and urged people to stop harassing him.
In response to the ordeal, a Rays journalist gave Evelyn and her brother a different baseball to make amends. DeVore expressed her gratitude to the network for broadcasting the incident, while also mentioning that her son bravely tried to retrieve the ball. “I can’t thank you enough,” she said. “My daughter and I cried happy tears over this.”
She concluded by saying that while she’s from Ohio and may always be a Clevelander, she has developed an appreciation for Tampa following this experience.
