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Derek Jeter 3000th Hit Video: Meet Diehard Yankees Fan Who Caught Historic Homer

July 9, 2011   ·     ·   Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees

Derek Jeter got his 3,000th hit today, a home run in fact, and Christian Lopez was the man who caught it.

Tickets to a potentially historic day at Yankee Stadium came courtesy of Lopez’s girlfriend, and both her and his father accompanied the cell phone salesman to the ballpark earlier today not knowing that they’d be the ones with a piece of history in their possession.

By the sixth inning of the game, Lopez was brought into the booth to speak with the YES Network announcers, and Lopez was basically star struck by the entire situation.

“I’m on the top of the world right now,” he said during the interview when asked how he was doing.

He was on top of the ball at one point, too, after Jeter blasted his 3,000th hit over the wall in left center.

Lopez said a few people jumped on him, but he felt his dad, who was wearing a No. 5 Joe DiMaggio jersey, on his back at first trying to protect him.

But instead of keeping that piece of history and selling it off for a six-figure sum, Lopez decided to return the ball to Jeter claiming, “He worked so hard for this.”

The two got to meet after the game and the Yankees, responding as the Yankees should, also hooked Lopez up with signed bats and balls and four suite tickets to every remaining home game of the season—including the playoffs.

A group of people on Facebook has even gotten involved with a group titled, “Let’s raise $300k for Christian Lopez (who caught Jeter’s 3000th).”

Jeter went on to go five-for-five from the plate and drove in the winning run, and his longtime friend and teammate, Mariano Rivera, came on to close out the game in what couldn’t have been a better game for his 3,000th hit.

Jeter, Mo, and Christian Lopez, it really was quite an ending to an extraordinary day at Yankee Stadium.

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