WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The teenager was sitting in the grass beyond the right field fence with his best friend when he heard the crack of the bat. Then he saw the ball in the air. Forget that piece of pretzel in his hand — he dropped it in the grass and made a beeline for the back of the lawn.
“I was just like, ‘Oh, my God, no way,” Michael Hecker said.
There were others with the same goal, hoping the ball off the bat of Washington Nationals prospect James Wood would land at their feet. They would reach down and grab it. They would hold it up in jubilation. Maybe in the dream, they would hold the remains of their broken pretzel with the wrapper in the other hand — like Hecker.
“That home run just made my year — and it’s only February,” Hecker said.
James Wood. 1st swing as a Nat. brutal.
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) February 25, 2024
(he's 6'7 btw) pic.twitter.com/4MLnPK35ez
Hecker and his best friend, Jayden Vazquez, both 15, came to the ballpark Saturday to watch the Nationals and Houston Astros work out. Hecker is a Mets fan — he’s originally from New York — but his family moved to nearby Boynton Beach, Fla., a few years ago. He wore a Jose Altuve jersey strictly so he could get an autograph. They didn’t even know there was a game Saturday night, but once they did, they paid $28 to sit on the lawn.
Spring training gives fans a chance to get an up-close-and-personal look at players they admire. They stand along the fences with pens and baseballs, yelling players’ names as they walk from one field to another. Before games, they huddle down the foul line or by the dugout with baseball cards.
But it wasn’t until Saturday that Hecker saw Wood and learned who he was.
That home run — seeing as it came in spring training — probably meant little to Wood. The 21-year-old has slugged 41 in his minor league career. He’s trying to make it to the majors, where he hopes there will be plenty more. After the game, Wood said he didn’t know where the ball landed. Asked what’s next, he replied: “Another game tomorrow.”
For Hecker, that baseball was worth much more.
“It means everything,” he said. “It means everything to me. I mean, that’s awesome. I’ve never gotten a home run at a baseball game before. That’s just … that’s like an achievement for me.”
Less than an hour after the game, Hecker and Vazquez sat on a curb in the parking lot. Every few seconds, they would peek into the Nationals’ spring training facility to see if Wood was coming their way.
“Likely he’ll go out the other side, but you never know,” Vazquez said.
“I got the ball in my pocket just in case he comes,” Hecker said.
A few minutes later, Hecker and Vazquez would head home. Wood never did come out, but he already had made their night a few hours earlier.
