March 28, 2024

Coenen catches a piece of history

Creston grad snags Pujols home run ball

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ARLINGTON, Texas — Dreams do come true.

Tyler Coenen, a 2010 graduate of Creston High School who now lives in the Dallas area after spending last summer working as Operations Manager for the Texas Rangers’ game-used memorabilia sponsor, found out firsthand Sunday evening.

Coenen attended the Texas Rangers home baseball game Sunday against the visiting Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim so he could watch his favorite player, Albert Pujols.

“I was joking with my dad that I got outfield seats so I could catch a home run ball, never thinking it would actually happen,” Coenen said Sunday evening from the game.

When he purchased his ticket in Section 6, Row 5, Seat 1, little did Coenen know he’d be leaving the game with a souvenir.

With Los Angeles leading Texas 7-1 in the fourth inning, Pujols smacked a line drive laser into left field off Texas pitcher Colby Lewis.

“Any home run ball, it’s pretty distinctive the sound of the ball on the bat,” Coenen said. “Once he hit it, everyone in the outfield jumped up and was waiting for it. At that point, I was like I don’t know if this is real life or not, because it was coming right at me. It was like a dream.”

The ball stayed on its course, until it ended up in Coenen’s outstretched hand. Coenen, sporting a Pujols Dominican Republic jersey, was seen celebrating the catch on the television broadcast of the game.

“My first instinct was to take my hat off to try to fight through the hands,” Coenen said. “There was no way I could catch it with my hat. I had my hat in my hand and went for it, caught it barehanded. It kind of scrunched up my hat a little bit. I immediately started freaking out.”

Since Pujols plays for the visiting Angels, the home Rangers fans immediately began yelling for Coenen to throw the ball back onto the field.

Instead, Coenen celebrated even more and pointed to his Pujols jersey.

The home run, which was the 545th of Pujols’ career and his American League-leading 25th of the season, traveled an estimated 416 feet.

“It was crazy. I knew what was happening. It was one of those, like, out-of-body experiences, like is this actually happening right now? Does someone need to wake me up from a sleep I’m having?” Coenen said.

Coenen said he’d run the situation through his head before, of what he’d do if a home run ball came his way. That’s why he took his hat off.

“I’ve had that situation in my head many times, thinking, ‘what if?’” Coenen said. “I thought if I took my hat off, it’d be like catching it with a glove. I kind of abandoned that idea and tried to catch it. Luckily, I didn’t drop it. That was another fear — I don’t want to drop this.”

It’s the first time Coenen has caught a baseball at a Major League game.

As a lifelong Pujols fan, Coenen had attended Game 1 of the 2011 World Series in St. Louis, witnessing Pujols and his team at that time, the St. Louis Cardinals, defeat the Rangers.

Sunday was another special experience for him, but in a different way.

“Watching him in St. Louis was much better, just because he was a Cardinal,” Coenen said. “But it’s cool being part of the game, catching a ball he hit. I’ve never even caught a foul ball. It was like for one moment, I was actually part of the game.”

Coenen already has plans to create a display for the home run ball, along with a box score from the game and a picture of Pujols.

“Just the fact it’s a 500 home run is pretty awesome, because 500 is kind of the standard,” he said. “The fact I got one after (500) is pretty awesome. It’s like a part of history.”