Sports
After a fan asks, “If you hit a home run, can I have your bat?” Astros superstar Jose Altuve delivers
BALTIMORE — Christopher Disalvo is a 4-foot-2 middle infielder with a baseball obsession. He lives on Long Island, NY, but saw his idol from Section 48, Row 21, Seat 4 at Camden Yards. Jose Altuve strolled into the on-deck circle and heard Disalvo call his shot.
“I asked him, ‘If you hit a home run, can I have your bat?’” Disalvo said.
Altuve blasted the second pitch he saw 390 feet into the right field seats, provided his dugout with the requisite high fives and handed Disalvo a memory the 11-year-old will never forget. Altuve called Disalvo from his seat, fist bumped him and handed him the orange bat he had just used.
“Oh my God,” Disalvo said next, still holding the bat in his hand. “The happiest moment of my life.”
(Photo: Chandler Rome / The Athletic)
Stadium officials brought Disalvo, his father, Chris Sr., and a little league teammate to the concourse at Camden Yards, where the bat was authenticated and kept for the final seven innings of Baltimore’s 7-5 victory.
“Obviously the last few days have been a little rough for me. I haven’t felt great at the plate,” said Altuve, who had only six extra-base hits in his previous 30 games.
“For him to call a homer and me to hit was big for me. I was happy, probably happier than he was. All I could do was just give him my bat.
In the hallway, Chris Sr. held the Orioles cap his son was wearing as he yelled at Altuve. That loyalty mattered so little to Altuve, but it resonated with Chris Sr., who earned a new level of admiration for a player who still gets booed at most ballparks he enters.
Chris Sr. coaches his son’s Little League team, which is participating in a Ripken Experience Tournament in Baltimore and will play a doubleheader on Saturday.
Visiting all 30 major league ballparks is part of the family’s bucket list, so attending Friday night’s game and checking one off the list made perfect sense.
During the third inning, Chris Jr. shot. from his seat down the steps to the on-deck circle, where he called Altuve’s shot. Before Chris Jr. could return upstairs to his seat, Altuve called him back downstairs to deliver the bat.
“I was in the bathroom,” Chris Sr. said afterward. “I didn’t even see it. I come back and I’m like, ‘Are you kidding me?’
Neither father nor son had ever been to Camden Yards. Chris Jr. has been a New York Mets fan since birth, but now focuses on specific players rather than an entire team. Elly De La Cruz fascinates him. This also applies to Jonathan India.
“But he likes this guy because he’s short,” says Chris Sr., who himself is 6 feet tall. “Good things come in small packages.”
“It always makes you feel good that young kids want to play like you or other guys on the team,” Altuve said. “At the end of the day, we play for the fans and we play to inspire young kids to go to the big leagues and get better every day.”
Altuve is one of the most generous players in the Astros clubhouse, whether it’s signing autographs during pre-game batting practice or taking the occasional selfie with enthusiastic fans. At home or on the road, he maintains the same friendliness, whether he’s about to be adored by the Minute Maid Park crowd or reviled by many others.
“The man is an absolute gentleman,” Chris Sr. said. “He’s a fan of baseball. I coach these guys and it’s a real sportsman’s mentality. No matter what the child wears, if you have a love for the game, you just respect the game. I teach them to respect the game. If you go there, give it your all, like he does every time.
Chris Jr. will play right field for his team during Saturday’s doubleheader. “One of the best teams in the country” awaits them, Chris Sr. said.
“But we’re here for the experience,” he said.
Altuve has created one they will remember forever.
“Everything that happened tonight, that’s the highlight and what this is all about,” said Houston manager Joe Espada, whose club gave up five runs in the eighth inning en route to a crushing defeat.
“It’s about a good person who does nice things for people and the humility he shows. The kid called that homer, (Altuve) hit the homer and the kid gets a bat. We’re about to send that kid to college next. Jose is just such a good person and it goes beyond what he does on the baseball field.”
(Photo: Tommy Gilligan/USA Today)
