Nationals send gift to young fan after unpleasant experience

The Washington Nationals made a heartwarming gesture this week by sending a gift to a 10-year-old girl named Avery Hilliard. Hilliard almost caught a ball thrown her way by right fielder Joey Meneses, who was warming up in the inning.

Hilliard had her glove ready to make the catch but was bested by an adult fan who snatched it from her and walked away without minding the little girl. Hilliard’s mother took to Twitter to post a video about their unpleasant experience earlier this month.

She wrote, “Grown man steals baseball from little girl. @nationals can you get Joey Meneses to sign a baseball and send it to my daughter?”

Her post went viral with over 3,000 likes at the time of writing. The Nationals responded to the tweet on Tuesday.

“Hi Avery. We have something coming for you,” the team wrote.

The team had prepared a little souvenir to make it up for little Hilliard, with the gift consisting of a ball and a letter signed by Meneses.

“I’m sorry you didn’t get the ball I threw to you. I wanted to make sure you got one, so I hope this signed game ball makes up for it! Hope to see you at a game soon!” the letter reads.

Hilliard’s mother, Gina, thanked the team and Meneses for their warm gesture, saying, “this can serve as a symbol of a good experience at the park rather than a bad one!”

Hilliard is just one among countless examples of adult fans being selfish. In late August, when the Kansas City Royals defeated the San Diego Padres 15-7 at Kaufman Stadium, an adult wearing a Royals hat and team jersey was seen stealing a grand slam ball from a young fan’s glove.

In the broadcast, it was visible that the ball, smacked by Padres outfielder Juan Soto in the top of the seventh inning, had landed on the young fan’s glove before the adult fan snatched it over.