What he was told was going to be just a trip to the orthodontist’s office turned into the best day of a Dodger fan’s young life on Friday when he engineered Freddie Freeman’s walk-off grand slam that won the Boys in Blue to an early lead in the World Series.
He says just getting to Game 1 would have been more than enough, until the incredible series of moments that led to what he said was the highlight of his young life.
Family photo
“I knew it was going to be gone as soon as I heard the crack of the bat,” Zac said.
What he didn’t know was what was coming. Zac’s father Nico was recording the moment Freeman dragged his walk-off grand slam into deep left field, showing the flight of the ball as it landed in the crowd — and then the darkness.
The video stopped in the middle of the frenzied battle for the ball, which all happened as Zac’s mother Anne watched with bated breath.
“I was like, ‘Oh my God, he’s getting trampled over there,’” she recalled as she watched her 10-year-old son at the bottom of a dog pile of fans desperate to find the piece of history.
Zac thought quickly and managed to gain the upper hand, despite being smaller than most of the others involved.
“He bounced on the seat in front of us,” he said. “I was like, I was on my knees… actually I was on the ground trying to find it. I saw the ball, but I knew I couldn’t get it, so I hit it against my dad.”
Nico still struggles to find the words to describe the moment he picked up the ball.
“I don’t even remember, it was such a blur. It was just so chaotic and, you know, I was so excited to give it to AC and then I looked at him and he just had tears running down his face were flowing,” Nico said. “I thought, ‘Oh no, what’s going on?’ And he was so excited that tears of joy streamed down his cheeks.”
Anne says she knew exactly when her family would somehow come up with the prize.
“I knew the ball was under Nico, I saw the look in his eyes and thought: ‘He has that ball.’ … He hadn’t brought it up yet, but I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, he has.’
It was that moment Zac will never forget.
“Then he handed it to me. It was the best moment of my life.’
While the family hasn’t yet decided on their course of action when it comes to the ball, some memorabilia experts say it could already fetch $1 million, and that’s before the potential Dodgers’ World Series title.
Family photo
“So that kid is incredibly lucky, right? That ball, if you look at other balls – the Shohei ball, the 50-50 ball that just sold for $4.5 million – with Freddie Freeman, that’s in at least in my humble opinion… I’ll easily go for a million, more than a million,” said Eric Chao.
Despite knowing that, Zac said he’s not inclined to sell.
“I really have no idea,” he said. “All I hope is that I can get Freddie Freeman to sign it.”
Besides the ecstasy of grabbing the ball, the family says fans all around them were beyond excited to enjoy the glory of victory with them.
“All the fans around us were so nice too, you know,” Nico said. “Everyone was excited that Zac had it and hundreds of people wanted to take pictures with him and the ball after the game. … We were there probably, I don’t know, it seemed like an hour later.”
Zac, who says he’s been to about 30 Dodgers games in his life — none of which they lost — said it would have been an incredible experience even if they hadn’t gotten the ball.
“It was just great. It would have been just great even if I hadn’t done it, even if we hadn’t gotten the ball.”
