In the second inning of Game 5 of the World Series, Adams was walking back to his seats with a blue Bud Light aluminum can in each hand. At that moment, Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez’s bullet of a home run was hurtling toward him. With little time to react, Adams froze and reverted to his days as a catcher, growing up in Miami.

“I had a Little League coach; his name was Wayne Mitchell,” Adams said, standing in front of the in-stadium restaurant. “He taught me how to put my chest in front of a ball and let it bounce in front of me. So put my chest in front of it, right? And I angled down. Sure enough, hit me right in the chest. Went straight down. And I got it.”

Adams’s perfect form yielded barely a spilled drop of suds, and the ball rested on the ground in front of his seat. He picked it up. In the middle innings, he asked a reporter, “You want to see it?” He pulled a ball out of his pocket — the ball, Adams said — and proudly showed it off. He wished his mom could see him, and he gave all credit to Mitchell, his old coach.

AD

AD

“This guy taught me how to do that,” Adams said. “That’s a big deal.”

Amazingly, Adams nearly caught another ball. Juan Soto’s seventh-inning home run headed out in his direction, and Adams learned over a railing to try to snag it, but the homer landed in an open space between the fence and the seats.

Adams said he lives in the District now and frequently attends Nationals games. He had never gained any level of fame, and he was a little uneasy about it. But he had a unique souvenir to bring home. He probably had a bruise, too, but he swore it didn’t hurt.

“Listen,” Adams said. “It’s a World Series baseball. I didn’t feel anything.”

Read more on the Washington Nationals: