It Turns Out the Blue Jays Fan Who Caught Miguel Rojas' HR Ball Did NOT Throw it Back. Bonus: His Son Caught Will Smith's. And They Want $2.5 Million for the Pair of Them
It was truly one of those moments you told yourself you'll never forget. In the midst of the shock and heartbreak of watching his team blow a lead just two outs away from winning the World Series, a Blue Jays fan put loyalty ahead of profits, and tossed the ball back:
It was touching. Anyone watching could be forgiven if they romanticized the moment. This act of selflessness. An Everyman, refusing to betray his love of team and community in order to make a few bucks. Seemingly giving the ball back to Miguel Rojas rather than tarnish his pure love of the Blue Jays and the great game of baseball.
I'm sure there were people in Canada taking some patriotic pride in it as well. Telling themselves that no American would've committed such a noble act if the situation was reversed. And that if they ever did see this fellow traveler, they would, in fact, buy him a Labatt's and drink a toast to his loyalty.
You'd better think again. And watch that video again. Starting at about the 0:08 mark. As the greatest Canadian of all, Norm MacDonald put it, "I'd like to see who's in the grave of the guy who invented 'The Ol' Switcheroo.'" Which is precisely what this guy pulled. Taking another ball out of his pocket with all the bait-and-switch dexterity of the magician performing on a discount cruise ship, putting it in his glove and then chucking the imposter ball.
Here's where things take a turn for the surreal. Not that said Jays fan is now looking to get paid. But that catching historic Dodgers Game 7 run balls and selling them seems to be this guy's family business:
Source - When the night began at Rogers Centre, John Bains thought he’d be watching history — not holding it.
The 61-year-old from Brampton, Ontario, has been bleeding Blue Jays blue since 1977. …
[When] Rojas connected on a hanging slider by All-Star closer Jeff Hoffman … Bains didn’t flinch. He tracked it the whole way, arms extended, heart racing, he reached over the railing. Thwack. The ball landed squarely in his glove. …
Cameras caught Bains throwing the home run ball back onto the field as the stunned crowd went silent as the sheeted dead. But in reality, Bains had a trick up his sleeve.
“I had a feeling I might have to pull the switch,” Bains told Darren Rovell, laughing about the decoy baseball he’d tucked in his pocket, just in case. Moments later, he tossed the ordinary ball back onto the field — a magician’s sleight of hand to keep a piece of history. …
For any other fan, catching one of the most important home run balls in baseball history might be fortunate enough. A ball like that, if sold at auction, could change anyone’s life forever.
But fate wasn’t finished.
Two innings later, in the 11th, Dodgers catcher Will Smith sent a towering drive arcing toward the same section — the same row — the same family. The ball bounced off the Blue Jays bullpen ground and into the waiting arms of John’s son, Matthew, who fumbled it on the bounce, the ball caroming off hands and seats before finding its way back to him. …
“I mean, what are the odds?” Bains said, shaking his head.
What are the odds, indeed? Grok AI has done the calculations:
Final estimate:
Odds for a random father-son pair in a random game:
1 in 2.5×10 to the 9th power to 1 in 10 to the 10th power
(or 1 in 2.5–10 billion) …
Bottom line: It’s not impossible—just one of the rarest fan feats in sports, comparable to being struck by lightning twice in a lifetime.
Now factor in that these are odds for the 2,430 MLB games that are played every season, but there have only been 67 World Series Game 7s, and the odds become exponentially longer. So this goes beyond mere chance. It's a synchronicity. John and Matthew Bains have taken us into "Glitch in the Matrix" territory with this.
And the only thing about it that isn't shocking, surreal, or solid evidence we DO live in a simulation, is what they plan to do with these precious pieces of baseball history. Which is get fecking PAID.
Cllct - When asked what the family was going to do with the balls, Bains said he's leaning toward keeping them.
Asked for a price that would change that equation, he had both of them on the tip of his tongue.
"I'd take $1 million for the Rojas ball and $1.5 million for the Smith ball," he said. "They were both game-changing baseballs."
Freddie Freeman's walk-off grand slam ball from the 2024 World Series sold last year at SCP Auctions for $1.56 million. It's the third-highest price paid for a baseball behind Shohei Ohtani's 50th home run ball from the 2024 season ($4.39 million at Goldin Auctions) and Mark McGwire's 70th home run ball ($3.05 million at Guernsey's in 1999). …
He says he understandably has mixed feelings.
Seriously, this is the first thing about this story that makes any sense. The thought of tossing that ball back was insane. The idea a guy would do it out of fan loyalty was a fairy tale. The fact a father and son ended up with both the Rojas and Smith balls is virtually impossible. And the part about Bains the Elder having "mixed feelings" is pure horseshit. The kind of thing you feel like you have to say even though no one believes it, and knows you don't believe anyone will believe it, but we all go along with the lie.
But turning his insane good fortune into millions? That adds up. Literally. That brings us all back to reality. Performing some idiotic gesture on international TV so you can be a hero to your fellow Blue Jays fans sounds all well and good. But $2.5 million will buy a lot of drinks at Barberian's Steak House or Hurricane's Road House before a Leafs game. Credit where it's due to John Bains for having the foresight to carry a cheap knockoff ball around in his pocket all game, just in case someone hit a 340-foot Powerball ticket his way, and the wherewithal to pull that switchy-changey and fool the world with it. I hope he and his kid get every Loonie they have coming to them.
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