On a day meant to celebrate Anthony Rizzo’s career, the longtime Cubs star wasted no time embracing his new life as a fan. Honored in a retirement ceremony at Wrigley Field, Rizzo soon found himself out in the bleachers with a beer in hand, blending in with the crowd that once cheered him from afar. Fate intervened when rookie Moises Ballesteros launched his first career home run — a ball that came down right where Rizzo was sitting. The only problem? Rizzo couldn’t come up with the catch, setting the stage for the second-most infamous dropped ball in Wrigley history.
*** Now chatting in #FriendlyConfines ***
BleacherSnakeTamer: legend in '16, and now he’s a legend in the outfield seats
they handed him a beer and 2 innings later he’s chanting with us
anthony rizzo: Wrigley’s drunk uncle
*** TheRizzoler has entered the chat ***
TheRizzoler: WOOOOOOOO
RETIREMENT IS A FULL-TIME JOB BABY
/spills a little beer on his jersey
sorry, not sorry
*** BabyBalleros has entered the chat ***
BabyBalleros: first big league homer
moises ballesteros, remember the name
straight to left… oh wow… it’s headed right for you, Mr. Rizzo!!
grab it, man!
TheRizzoler: I HAD IT I SWEAR
JUST SLIPPED THROUGH LIKE A MEATBALL PASTA
/dives for peanuts instead
BabyBalleros: brooooo
i hit it TO YOU
that was supposed to be a passing of the torch not a spilling of the nachos
BleacherSnakeTamer: my man dropped Moise's first homer
dude’s glove was a plastic cup
and my kid now smells like Old Style
*** HEY GUYS THIS IS JI
*** JIM THOME has entered the chat ***
WORDUPTHOME: HEY GUYS THIS IS JI
JIM THOME
WORDUPTHOME: RIZZO
YOU DROPPED THE BALL
BUT YOU DID NOT DROP YOUR LEGACY
THAT’S SAFE IN THE IVY FOREVER
WORDUPTHOME: A MAN RETIRES, A KID HOMERS, AND A BEER IS SPILLED
THIS IS BASEBALL IN ITS PUREST FORM
*** BartmanReturns has entered the chat ***
BartmanReturns: hey riz
welcome to the club
population: us
and about 40 years of bad jokes
give or take
TheRizzoler: steve?
STEVE BARTMAN??
oh thank god someone understands
BartmanReturns: oh i understand
you drop one ball and you’re the enemy of the state
but don’t worry
the ball will end up in a museum exhibit anyway
WORDUPTHOME: YOU DROPPED THE BALL
BUT BASEBALL GAINED A NEW LEGEND
ALSO YOUR HAND-EYE COORDINATION IS CLEARLY RETIRED TOO
*** MLB_NewsBot has entered the chat ***
MLB_NewsBot: Anthony Rizzo honored at Wrigley in retirement, enjoys beer in bleachers.
Rookie Moises Ballesteros hits first MLB home run directly to Rizzo, who drops it.
BleacherSnakeTamer: so who ended up with the ball?
*** K4R3N has entered the chat ***
K4R3N: AHEM
WORDUPTHOME: NOT AGAIN
*** TheRizzoler has left to buy another round ***
*** BabyBalleros has left to get his ball back from security ***
*** BartmanReturns has left to laugh softly into his headphones ***
*** WORDUPTHOME has left to salute the ivy with an all-caps poem ***
*** K4R3N has left to yell at a Wrigley vendor about nacho portion sizes ***