Opinion: Can I keep the baseball I caught?

Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman Enrique Hernández bats during the fifth inning in Game 4 of baseball's National League Division Series against the Atlanta Braves, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, in Atlanta. Colin Hubbard/AP hide caption

This week, an ethical question, of all things, intruded into the baseball playoffs.

Tuesday night, Dodgers versus Braves, in Atlanta. A young man in a Dodger jersey caught a foul ball in the stands. As so often happens these days, someone seated nearby captured it on video, and then felt compelled to instruct the man, "Give it to the kid! Give it to the kid!"

And indeed there was a small boy, maybe preschool-aged, a few rows back in a Braves jersey.

But the Dodgers fan looked into the man's camera and told what turned out to be millions of viewers on social media, "I'm sorry, I can't! I'm not giving it to the kid! I feel bad, but I'm not giving it to the kid!"

Some commenters denounced the man for keeping the ball. Some others have inveighed against the little boy for looking disappointed.

Before we criticize anyone's ethics, we ought to ask ourselves: what would we do if a baseball fell into our hands at a playoff game? Keep it, or give it to the nearest child?

Because I am a father, I'm pretty certain I would give it to a child. But also because I'm a father, I know that within a few days, the ball so tenderly bequeathed might have rolled, abandoned, under a bed, surrounded by lost socks and forgotten Labubus.