Takin' a T/O with BT: Afternoon Action with Doc Halladay and the Blue Jays

This culminated in a kid of about 12 literally throwing a ball at Jesse while he was signing something else for someone.

I was just embarrassed standing in that line.

Side note (again): There isn't enough I can say about Jesse Litsch. The kid is a saint. He obviously didn't want to be out there while people ripped on his team, but he signed for a good 15 minutes—an eternity for some players.

And despite the fact he was treated with less respect than I had for myself after a $10 plate of nachos, he stayed out there. Thank you, Mr. Litsch. Thank you.

While we're thanking people, I want to commend the White Sox fans and players for being so nice and good-hearted.

Decked out in Blue Jays gear, we stood in line to try and meet AJ and Toby Hall. We failed—it was probably the gear. At least we made small talk with the Sox fans that didn't involve slamming their team.

That, and the Sox players honored their word as Hall sent Pierzynski over to autograph a woman's jersey, and Nick Swisher made a beeline for a fan in a Swisher shirt he promised a signature to earlier.

But with all of those stories behind us (Trust me, there's more, just ask.), at least one of them had a happy ending. (And I don't mean the girl who yelled "I love you" at Jesse Litsch during that signing who then got to say "play ball!")

I'd like to say that I'm fine with kids being excited and energetic at ball games. Yell at your favorite players, yell at the ones you don't like. It does start to eat at your nerves a little, but I can deal with that because at least it signals passion.

But when my recognition of passion turns into "buy me a hot dog so I can throw it at that kid" is when that kid starts to do the wave.

After every single out.

For four innings.

But why fight your own battles when a professional baseball player can do it for you?

Enter: Jermaine Dye.

After an at-bat that seemed to go on for ages, resulting in two or three foul balls hit our way (including one caught by the guy right in front of us—he brought his three-year-old—making it the most heart-warming thing I had witnessed since watching Field of Dreams the night before), Jermaine Dye fouls off another one.

Although it initially looks like it's coming right at us, it starts to tail towards the right, and Mr. Wave's eyes perk right up.

He's in prime position (seats right behind the guard rail so no one can get in front of him) and his glove is out, ready for the catch. Ball goes in, ball comes out, ball drops down to the crowd below.

The kid never was heard from again, and I'm still wrestling with the idea of buying a Jermaine Dye jersey.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?