Cubs fan catches foul ball while holding his baby

Chicago Cubs fan Keith Hartley caught a foul ball with his right hand while holding and feeding his 7-month-old son, Isaac, with his left hand Tuesday night at Wrigley Field.

The video went viral and Hartley has since been bombarded by interview requests.

“It’s been nonstop,” Hartley told the Chicago Tribune on Wednesday morning. “I haven’t gotten much sleep over the course of the evening, but with a new baby, he prepared me for it. Not really a new thing.”

Hartley, 29, was in the front row when he robbed Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez in the second inning of the Cubs’ 1-0 win in 10 innings.

“Hopefully he’s not too angry,” Hartley said when asked about interfering with Gonzalez. “He is on my fantasy team.”

Fan interference was ruled and the batter, Cubs pitcher Jason Hammel, was called out, but Hartley was allowed to stay in his seats.

“I don’t think fans should get ejected if they don’t go on the field,” Gonzalez told reporters. “I think they’ve got every right to stick their hand out. I wouldn’t have wanted to see him get thrown out.”

Hartley said he’s received a lot of flak for catching the ball while holding his baby. While calling the play live, Dodgers TV announcer Charley Steiner said, “Mister, there are bigger things in life than a foul ball. That’s unbelievable.”

Hartley told the Chicago Tribune that “people can say what they want” about him.

“Everything kind of happened so quickly,” he said. “I’m not a super rich guy. The seats were gifts from a colleague of mine. My family is out in Lockport, so it’s not like I had a baby sitter at hand. We were shocked when we got to the seats to see how close they were.”

Hartley and two male friends planned the seating arrangement with “the three big guys in front of the baby” if a foul ball came. Naturally, his friends were out getting beers when it actually happened.

“I had no concern about dropping him,” he said. “You can see how good my hands are. If it was a bat, I wouldn’t have tried to catch it. I would’ve turned to protect the wife and kid.”

Hartley said his wife, Kari, didn’t get upset that he put little Isaac in relative danger

“She had complete faith in me,” he said. “If you watch the video, the lady behind me was all shocked and astonished I made the catch. Kari sat there shaking her head. She knew what was going to happen. She knows my athletic prowess and how it was going to go down, and it went exactly as she expected.”

For many Cubs fans, the play brought to mind Steve Bartman, who infamously interfered with a potential crucial catch by Chicago outfielder Moises Alou in the Cubs’ loss in Game 6 of the 2003 National League Championship Series.

“That’s what I’ve gotten from a lot of my buddies,” Hartley said. “They’re all diehard Cubs fans, and they said hopefully this is the anti-Bartman (moment) because I actually catch the ball and I can reverse the curse. … One of them said I should get a ring if they win the World Series for removing the curse. I don’t know about all that. I’m just along for the ride. It’s been a pretty surreal experience for me. Just trying to have fun with it.”