Some fans bring their baseball glove to the ballpark, while still others attempt to catch a foul ball or a home run with their bare hands. But when Elly De La Cruz is in the batters' box rocketing line drives off the bat at over 100 mph, you may want to reconsider your choices.
De La Cruz showed off his prodigious power during Thursday's night series opener against the Chicago Cubs when he rocketed a ball into the right field bleachers in the bottom of the third inning to help put the Cincinnati Reds on top 3-2. The Reds would eventually win by the final score of 8-4 for their 10th victory in their last 13 contests.
The Reds are getting hot, but there were some cold and wet Cubs fans on Thursday night following the De La Cruz big fly. In an attempt to grab the missile off De La Cruz's bat, a Reds' fan decided to use their beverage cup. The results were not pretty.
Reds fan's hilarious attempt to catch Elly De La Cruz HR soaks Cubs fan in beer
There's always a smattering of Cubs' fans at Reds games — they're everywhere. In the 1980s and 1990s, the Cubs were one of the few teams to have a nationally televised broadcast, and their fandom has since stretched across the United States; even into Ohio. So it's never unexpected to see several blue hats and jerseys at Great American Ball Park when the Cubbies are in town.
But the two gentlemen sitting in the outfield stands during Thursday's game may want to relocate in the future. De La Cruz's home run cleared the fence in right field and as the cadre of fans reached to secure the souvenir, one Reds fan attempted to use their beer cup to catch the ball.
The problem with that line of thinking is that Elly's homer left the bat at 114 mph and travelled 375 feet. A thinly lined plastic cup is not going to stand up to the rigors of a De La Cruz home run, and the cup exploded upon impact and soaked the Cubs' fans sitting in GABP's Moon Deck.
They won't be throwing that ball back onto the field. Reds fans are hoping to see more exploding cups and De La Cruz homers as the series continues on Friday.