SPORTS
November 3, 2014
THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 9
Giants fan who caught home run ball gives it back
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A lifelong San Francisco fan
had a piece of team history in his hands: the home run ball
in Game 5 that sent the Giants to the World Series.
Then he gave it back.
Frank Burke, who owns a transmission repair business
in Oakdale, said that he wanted the hitter, Travis
Ishikawa, to have the ball.
“I believe in karma,” he told The Associated Press. “I
didn’t hit that ball ... if anybody’s going to have that ball in
their game room or trophy case, it’s going to be the guy
who hit it.”
Burke said he hadn’t planned on keeping the ball. He
keeps home run balls from his high school days in his own
trophy case.
“They’re still important to me, they’re part of my
memories,” he said. “So why would I think that he
(Ishikawa) wouldn’t want the same thing?”
So after having the ball authenticated by a Giants
official, and being told that Ishikawa wanted it back,
Burke went down to the clubhouse area and handed it
q
UNANIMOUS DECISION. Japanese champion Shinsuke Yama-
naka, right, fights against Thai challenger Suriyan Sor Rungvisai in the
fourth round of their World Boxing Council bantamweight title match
in Tokyo. Yamanaka defended his title by a unanimous decision. (AP
Photo/Toru Takahashi)
Yamanaka retains
WBC bantamweight title
TOKYO (AP) — Shinsuke Yamanaka of Japan retained
his World Boxing Council (WBC) bantamweight title last
month with a unanimous decision over Suriyan Sor
Rungvisai of Thailand.
Yamanaka sent Suriyan to the canvas with a left to the
head in the seventh round and floored the challenger
twice more at Yoyogi National Gymnasium to improve to
22-0-2 with 16 knockouts. Yamanaka has successfully
defended his title seven times, winning five of them by
knockout.
Suriyan, the former WBC superflyweight champion,
fell to 37-6-1.
q
Olympic speedskating rink
underway in Pyeongchang
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Olympic organizers in
Pyeongchang have broken ground on the speedskating
rink for the 2018 Winter Games and say all six new
competition venues are on track to stage test events on
schedule.
Pyeongchang organizing committee president Cho
Yang-ho visited the site, saying “all our competition venue
preparations are in full swing and I am confident that
there is good momentum in our progress.”
The 2018 Games will utilize 13 competition venues,
including four existing and three refurbished facili-
ties.
The $125-million, 8,000-seat speedskating rink, in the
Gangneung Coastal Cluster, is the last of the six new
venues to get started. It is expected to be completed by
January 2017, a month ahead of the Olympic test
event.
q
Cubs decline option on Fujikawa
CHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago Cubs have declined
their option for next season on reliever Kyuji Fujikawa,
making him a free agent.
A longtime closer in Japan, the right-hander signed
with the Cubs before the 2013 season but never delivered
the way the organization hoped. He tore a ligament in his
pitching elbow in his first year with the Cubs and
underwent Tommy John surgery.
Fujikawa returned in August. He was 1-1 with a 5.04
ERA and two saves in 27 appearances over two seasons
with the Cubs.
A GIANT REWARD. Travis Ishikawa of the San Francisco Giants
hits a walk-off three-run home run during the ninth inning of Game 5 of
the National League baseball championship series against the St. Louis
Cardinals on October 16, 2014 in San Francisco. The Giants won 6-3 to
advance to the World Series. The San Francisco fan who caught the ball
gave it back to Ishikawa. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
over. Ishikawa shook hands, thanked him, and gave him a
signed bat in return.
Burke said Giants officials asked him what he would
like and he suggested World Series tickets but was told
that was unlikely.
After a media interview the next morning, however, he
got a call from the Giants, and Burke was given four tick-
ets to Game 3 of the World Series at San Francisco’s AT&T
Park. It was the first home game for the Giants against
the Kansas City Royals, which the Royals won, 3-2.
Burke took his friend, Greg Leutza, who is battling
cancer.
The two were at Game 5 because Burke wanted to do
something special for Leutza and went searching for
tickets after the Giants won the National League Division
Series.
Ishikawa’s drive came their way as they sat above the
stadium’s right field wall in the ninth inning with two
Giants on base.
As the ball sped toward him, Burke thought to himself:
“Soft hands, soft hands. Don’t let this thing bounce back
on the field.”
The ball went off his left hand but he was able to grab it
with his right.
“The whole place erupted,” Burke said. “It was a
walk-off home run. We were going to the World Series!”
Other fans clustered around.
“I couldn’t move from where I was because everyone
around me wanted to touch the ball, take pictures with
the ball. I must have taken 300 selfies in 15 minutes,” he
said.
After meeting Ishikawa and turning over the ball,
Burke and Leutza walked out of the clubhouse “like two
little kids, hootin’ and hollerin’,” he said.
But Burke said the ball and the bat weren’t the things
he treasured most.
“Just the memory for me and my buddy, that’s
priceless,” he said. “That meant more to me than anything
else will.”