The one-handed foul ball catch made by Chicago Cubs fan Keith Hartley was all over the web and cable TV yesterday. If you missed it, here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsag1eEoigQ

Nice catch. Of course, it interfered with the ball in play, keeping Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez from making the catch. In most circumstances, Hartley would have been thrown out of the game.

That’s the least that should have been done to him. He endangered his son—twice.

How quickly people forget that a fan in Boston is still recovering from a near fatal encounter with a shard from a broken bat that sailed into the stands during a game at Fenway Park, causing many baseball-hating pundits to call for netting to protect fans at field level. (This is how the Barn Door Fallacy works, after all.) I hate the idea of the netting, but there is no question that the seats near the action can be perilous. I once had access to season tickets by the visiting team on-deck circle at Baltimore’s old Memorial Stadium, and foul balls were whizzing by my head several times a game. I’m talking about line drives, not pop-ups, like the one Hartley caught.

To be blunt, his baby could have been killed. I don’t know why teams permit fans with infants and toddlers to sit that close to the field; maybe they assume the parents know what they are doing. Hartley proves they don’t. Sitting that close in a Major League baseball game requires alertness and attention to what is happening on the field, if only so a fan has time to duck. Not paying attention, or sometimes even paying attention in the wrong place when a ball is hit screaming into the stands at 80 miles an hour or so, can get an adult seriously hurt, and  leave a child with a fractured skull.

I think Hartley expected some criticism, because of his explanation–a ridiculous one—that he leaned into the playing area to protect the bottle-feeding child because he was worried that the ball would bounce off the railing and hit him. Right. Did he consider shielding his vulnerable son and giving up his shot at a souvenir? Heck no! Priorities, dude!

It seems that Hartley isn’t completely impervious to reality: he switched seats with friends when he saw how close he was to the field, Hartley says, to protect the baby. Ah. So he recognized that having an infant within range of batted balls was irresponsible, then brought his baby with him to visit his friends during the game, where he would be at risk of the same injuries he initially moved to prevent. Genius.

The amazing thing is that because he made the catch without dropping the kid, or missing the ball and seeing it bounce up into the baby’s face, or having any number of other disasters occur, he’s a celebrity and a hero. This is pure moral luck. If the baby had been harmed, as he easily could have been, this guy would be Bad Parent of the Week. He would have deserved it, too. In fact, he still deserves it.

This was irresponsible parenting and child endangerment. It’s really simple: if you want to go to a baseball game with a child too young to know to get out of the way of a stray ball or bat…

…don’t sit too close to home plate,

…think about protecting your child, not catching a foul ball, if that choice arises, an it is a choice,

…better yet, leave your baby at home with someone who isn’t going to be concentrating on something other than child care.

I’m happy that you got to leave the game with both a ball and a healthy baby, Kyle. You were lucky.