(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A former Chicago area man has had a whirlwind couple of days after catching the first home run hit by a former Japanese baseball star Seiya Suzuki, who is now a member of the Cubs.
Seiya Suzuki didn’t get any hits his first three spring training games with the Cubs. He cracked his first hit on Wednesday — a home run to the center field lawn seats at Sloan Park in Arizona.
Ryley Krausen, formerly of Lake in the Hills, was on the receiving end.
“He literally hit it as close as you could to me right in front of me. I only noticed it ‘cause my girlfriend was like, ‘Ball, ball, ball!’ and I like looked up as I was taking a sip of my beer, realized the ball was coming straight for my head,” Krausen recalled Friday.
At first, the 25-year-old was going to give the ball to his twin baby sisters, who were with him. But he decided Suzuki would likely appreciate the ball because it was his first hit and homer as a Cub.
After contacting security and Cubs PR, he says a meeting was set up with the new Cub after the game.
“Suzuki finished up with the media at the end of the game, we were able to go over, shake his hand, take a couple of pictures and, in exchange in his gratitude, he actually signed another ball and gave it to me. So, that was cool.”
Krausen said Suzuki thanked him in English and hugged him three times.
Growing up in the northwest suburbs, he was at Wrigley Field for Cubs games as much as he could, Krausen said. He said he has a picture of himself as a young boy with the late Cubs Hall-of-Famer Ernie Banks.
Krausen thinks Suzuki will be a good addition.
“He brings high energy more than anything.”
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