Guardians fan Evelyn Moore got a pretty cool souvenir from Monday's game against the Tampa Bay Rays — a two-run home run ball hit by Cleveland second baseman Daniel Schneemann.
The 11-year-old softball player from New Philadelphia, Ohio, almost got the ball right after Schneemann hit it in the bottom of the fifth inning.
But, as seen in video footage that quickly went viral on social media, a man appeared to snatch it away as Evelyn was trying to pick it up near the rail in the left-center field stands at Progressive Field.
He eventually gave it to her, however, and now the girl's mother wants folks on social media to leave him alone.
Read more: Phillies fan explains why he plucked a home run ball from his son's glove and gave it to a total stranger
"This man's life shouldn't be ruined over this," Nikki Moore-DeVore said. "Jokes and memes are one thing, but it's getting excessive. It's too much."
Moore-DeVore said her family — which also includes her husband, Jon DeVore, and her son, Theo Moore, 9 — attend several Guardians games a year. They sit in the outfield stands, where Evelyn — an avid baseball fan and baseball card collector — likes to take her glove down to the rail and try to persuade Cleveland outfielders to toss her a ball.
Video of Schneemann's home run shows the ball flying over the left-center field wall, where a bearded man wearing a throwback Cleveland Indians hat and T-shirt tried to catch it in the air. Instead, it bounced off his hands toward the rail to his left.
Evelyn ran down from her seat two rows up, dropped to the ground and attempted to secure the ball in front of her. The man ran over and also dropped to the ground next to her, starting a brief struggle for control of the ball.
"I did not really see how the ball came over to us. I just saw it bounce in our direction and my daughter go down to get it," Moore-DeVore said. "And I saw the scuffle kind of from behind, but I couldn't see much of the hands or anything like that. I just saw the shoulders shifting around.
"And then she got up empty-handed, and people started booing. The guys sitting in front of me were like, ‘That was her ball!’ My husband was booing. He was not happy, but we didn't want to ruin the game."
Read more: Behind the scenes of a milestone Make-A-Wish experience with the Dodgers
Evelyn also was upset by the turn of events, her mother said, "but she didn't cry."
"She actually took it like a champ," Moore-DeVore said. "Every inning, she still went up to the rail to try to get one of the players to throw a ball to her. She didn't give up."
Meanwhile, Theo approached the man to request he return the ball to his sister. Moore-DeVore said her son told her the man politely refused.
"I was just proud of him for going over there and taking it upon himself to try to help his sister,” Moore-DeVore said.
Read more: What Shohei Ohtani's start against Marlins says about how Dodgers are handling his workload
The Rays broadcast of the game showed the incident involving Evelyn and the man, with the announcers taking the girl's side. On social media, fans shared the video and shamed the man for his behavior, with some looking to make his identity public.
Later in the game, Rays sideline reporter Ryan Bass visited the family at their seats and presented both kids with baseballs.
"She cried happy tears," her mother said. "I think she just felt seen. The incident made her feel small, and Ryan made her feel seen.”