If you noticed that the man in the video above who caught the home run ball was particularly happy about it, there’s a good reason for that: that was Marty Gregor who made the catch, and it was his son, Conrad, who hit the home run. True story.
Marty Gregor and his wife decided to make the trip from Carmel, Indiana, to Davenport, Iowa, to watch their son’s weekend series at Cedar Rapids. They were rewarded for the long drive by witnessing their son’s first home run for the Quad Cities Bandits, and Marty just so happened to be in the right spot to make a great snag for the souvenir.
Conrad was a 4th-round pick by Houston last year out of Vanderbilt. He batted .289/.379/.385 in 74 games with low-A Tri City last year, and he’s batting .299/.410/.414 in 43 games with Single-A Quad Cities this season. His 3-run shot on Saturday helped the Bandits beat Cedar Rapids 5-2.
“It’s a little unbelievable, but I’m glad my parents were here to see it,” Gregor told the Quad-City Times, “and when I got back to the dugout, I heard he made a pretty good catch.”
Congrad’s manager thinks there was something special at work with the home run.
#qctimes @QCRiverBandits mgr Omar Lopez on Conrad Gregor's dad catching his son's HR: "Somebody upstairs had a hand in that. Pretty cool.''
— Steve Batterson (@sbatt79) May 25, 2014
We have to agree. Look at that proud dad!
