ST. LOUIS — They are a young couple who bought two tickets to a baseball game on Sept. 30.
Eli Gordon is a financial analyst. Barbara Bronson is a medical technician.
They bought the tickets a while back because Barbara had a friend who was going to be performing with a dance team before the game.
“I’ve been a Cardinal fan my entire life and the fact that this could happen to me doesn’t seem real," Eli Gordon said.
Each ticket cost $75 and they ended up getting their money’s worth.
The game they attended was the game where Albert Pujols hit home run No. 701.
Keep in mind, there are only four players in history who have hit 700 homers. And there is a real chance that no one will ever do it again.
So up in Big Mac Land, the two watched the ball soar off the bat of the great Pujols.
Pujols laid it into and it was a towering blast. The ball just kept rising and rising.
“You can see it and it’s coming at you," Gordon said.
“It’s almost like it’s in slow motion," Bronson said.
"It hit the railing and some guy missed it. I was like, 'Oh my god,'" Gordon said.
“It went into my cup, it was chaotic," Bronson said.
It was a mad scramble.
However, Eli did the smart thing, he kept that hand over the cup. He would not release his hand despite the fact that people in front of him and behind him were lunging at the ball.
He did get some help Barbara was protecting her boyfriend and the baseball.
“I put my hand on whoseever hand was on his and I was digging with my nails," Bronson said.
The couple won the war from the mad scramble in Big Mac Land.
With the help of seven ushers, they got out of the stadium with the ball. One of the smartest things they did was call Dick Zitzmann, who runs Sports Classic, Inc.
Dick made sure the ball was authenticated. That baseball is now at Heritage Auctions in Dallas. It could get $50,000 or more.
Two tickets, two people and one very valuable baseball.