Dad Who Dangled His Son Over Wall at Cincinnati Reds Game Breaks His Silence

A fan of the Cincinnati Reds spoke out after courting controversy for dangling his 8-year-old son over the outfield wall by his ankles to grab a home run ball.

"I felt like I had a good grip," James Foremantold Inside Edition's Steven Fabian on Tuesday, June 9. "I've done it hundreds of times."

The viral incident went down at St. Louis' Busch Stadium on Sunday, June 7, when the Cardinals' Bryan Torres hit a home run to right field. The ball got stuck in between the outfield wall and the scoreboard, inspiring James to use his son, Jeffrey, as a sort of real-life crane machine in an attempt to grab it.

When asked "how badly" Jeffrey wanted the home run ball, he said, "A lot."

Unfortunately, Jeffrey wasn't able to reach the ball before security intervened. To add insult to injury, the Reds lost to the Cardinals, 5-3.

While the father-and-son duo didn't go home with a souvenir, they became a focal point of the Reds' television broadcast of the game.

"That dude's gonna sacrifice his son," one announcer said, as they watched the ordeal play out in real time.

Another announcer in the booth said, "It's a Reds fan, too! He had both hands on him."

The incident even became fodder for the crew on CBS Mornings, with cohost Nate Burleson marveling, "Hey, he almost got it."

Baseball fans had plenty of reactions to the clip on social media, with plenty of different perspectives being added to the conversation.

"That's a wild moment!" one person wrote. "Gotta appreciate the lengths some parents will go for a little fun, though!"

Another said, "Kid should have let go with the other arm and he could have grabbed it before security got there."

However, not everybody found the situation to be quite as comical.

"People have died falling over these walls," one fan wrote. "They were absolutely right trying to stop that idiot dad."

Another argued, "Throw that dad in jail for child abuse. If he would have dropped his child that could've been a terrible tragedy for a damn baseball. 😡😡😡"

The critical commenters aren't entirely wrong, with some referring back to a 2011 incident involving Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton.

During a Rangers home game at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Hamilton tossed a ball to a 39-year-old woman who fell to her death trying to catch it. The fan fell approximately 20 feet onto concrete, into a gap between the railing and all in left field.

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This story was originally published June 10, 2026 at 1:19 PM.