Cleveland fan catches FOUR foul balls in one game!

[many a good man]

This has to be the most amazing baseball story of 2013, if not all time!

The odds of winning the lottery or being struck by lightning are astronomical, but the proverbial lightning bolt struck four times for Cleveland Indians fan Greg Van Niel on Sunday. He managed to reel in four foul balls during the Tribe's 6-4 win over the Kansas City Royals.

According to Max Lom of MLB.com's TribeVibe blog, Van Niel is an Indians season ticket holder who had never before caught a foul ball at Progressive Field. Considering how many games Van Niel has probably attended during his life, the odds were bound to swing in his favor at some point.

That is precisely what happened on Sunday, as Van Niel managed to gain possession of four foul balls, according to the Indians' official Twitter account.

Found him: Tribe Season Ticket Holder Greg Niel has caught four foul balls today. Nice work Greg!

Van Niel's stroke of luck is even more incredible when one takes into consideration the fact that he wasn't sitting in his usual seat. Van Niel took advantage of Progressive Field's season-ticket exchange, which landed him, his brother and his two nephews in Section 160 down the third-base line, according to Lom.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1704196-indians-fan-greg-van-niel-catches-4-foul-balls-in-same-game

[joeybee12]

1. Makes me wonder if he decides to always exchange for that different seat! nt

[Auggie]

2. Amazing, yes, though ...

attendance for Sunday was a disappointing 15,432. How much competition did he have?

I've been to games in old Cleveland Municipal Stadium when about 5,000 showed up. Imagine the balls you could score if you tried.

[madinmaryland]

4. Given that the Indians hit a lot of foul balls, his chances grew exponentially!!

[MrSlayer]

3. It's like 1000-1 to catch a foul ball at a game.

It's a thousand to the fourth power to catch four of them in one game. Like a trillion to one or something.

That just doesn't happen. Except that it did.

[trumad]

6. unreal stuff

3 he caught....one he got on the ground. Getting one on the ground is easier with less attendance. But catching 3... that's unbelievable.

[Renew Deal]

7. I've been to a lot of games, mostly at the old Yankee stadium and never caught one

I think I've been in the vicinity of a ball a couple times.

[trumad]

5. I've caught 4 in my life...

4 in MLB season games... 2 in spring training games. I probably have close to 100 batting practice balls.

[hughee99]

8. A remarkable feat, but...

how can I pass up the opportunity to piss on someone's cornflakes.

"Three of them were catches and one was a ball I picked up off the ground. The third one I think was the hardest one – I think I ended up sprawled across a few rows, and I got some cheese on myself. But the other ones were just a matter of being in the right place at the right time."

If he sprawled across a few rows and cheese on himself it's likely he dove on top of a few fans who hadn't caught ANY foul balls yet. Depriving them of the same opportunity to catch just one while he went for his third of the game.

Eh, I'm still pissed about the fan in 2005 that dove on top of me at a Sox game to catch a ground rule double. He spilled both of my brand new beers, and was about 40 feet away from even having a shot at the ball. A Mark Bellhorn ground rule double in the first few innings of an April game just isn't worth that.