He dropped a home run ball. What NC teen did next earned him national praise.

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Joshua Scott didn’t see it at first, the now-famous home run ball that launched off the bat of Atlanta Braves star Freddie Freeman and veered missile-like toward the 14-year-old, devoted Philadelphia Phillies fan from Matthews.

“Josh,” his dad blurted as they sat in the outfield seats above the Braves’ pitching bullpen on April 9. “Get up! Get up!”

Josh had never been to a game to see his beloved Phillies before, and now he was about to catch a home run ball.

If he snared it, Josh told The Charlotte Observer, he’d hurl it right back onto the playing field.

That’s what most any fan of a rival Major League Baseball team would do, unless you’re a sports memorabilia collector. Especially Phillies fans, Josh’s dad, James Scott, quipped, and especially at a Braves home game.

But what happened next drew Josh national acclaim.

He’s been interviewed on ESPN’s “SportsCenter,” by Atlanta and Philadelphia TV stations, The Philadelphia Inquirer and twice by MLB Network. On Friday, he appeared on ESPN as the network’s “Feel Good Story of the Week” for what he did when Freeman’s two-run shot launched his way.

Baseball fell from his glove

Josh said when his dad alerted him, he stuck his Mizuno baseball glove out to catch the ball. Freeman’s homer bounced from Josh’s glove and into the Braves’ bullpen. Someone tossed it back up, only to have it plop back down again when Josh couldn’t catch it. Then it happened again.

Joshua Scott jokes around during a pregame workout on Thursday, April 14, 2021. Joshua is a die-hard Philadelphia Phillies fan who has recently appeared on ESPN and other outlets for an act of generosity. Joshua and his father, James Scott attended a Atlanta Braves vs Philadelphia Phillies game where Joshua caught a home run ball hit by Freddie Freeman. Rather than throwing the ball back onto the field, Joshua found a young Braves fan wearing a Freeman t-shirt and gave the ball to him. Joshua plays on the Covenant Day School junior varsity baseball team.

When Josh finally got the ball, he said he glanced behind him and saw a 5- or 6-year-old boy in a Freeman shirt.

Josh chanced upon the boy before the game, when both lined up to take batting practice at a batting cage for fans. James Scott said he’d enjoyed chatting with the boy’s father as their sons waited their turn at the cage.

But the Scotts lost track of the boy in the rush to get to their seats. They never knew the boy would end up sitting in the rows behind them until Freeman’s home run in the bottom of the eighth inning, James Scott said.

‘It was right at me’

“It seemed like it was right at me,” Josh told the Observer of Freeman’s shot. “Then it veered off a little bit to the right, diagonal to the railing. I didn’t realize it could be that hard to catch the ball. I tried to catch it, but it came out of my glove. “

Josh remembers feeling mad at first about not catching the ball.

After all, he plays all three outfield positions and second base as a freshman on the junior varsity team at Covenant Day School in Matthews. He warms up with the varsity team before its games.

And how neat it would have been to be shown catching the ball on TV, and tossing it back onto the field, he said.

“That was the plan,” Josh said he told his dad before the game.

“You can’t really throw the ball back on the field after you drop it,” Josh told the Observer. “So it made me think about what I (would) do with it.”

Tossing a dropped home run ball back onto the field “would have been kind of arrogant,” James Scott said.

Waiting to finally catch the ball from the bullpen “bought me some time” to decide what to do with it, Josh said.

He glanced at the rows behind him and spotted the kid, he said.

And he did what his parents instilled in him about giving to others, he said.

‘Rhythm of generosity’

James and Tara Scott are lead pastors at The Exchange, a Christian church on Pressley Road in Charlotte.

They founded Freedom Within Walls, a nonprofit serving at-risk youth. The organization’s summer feeding program is the largest in South Carolina and in the top five in North Carolina, James Scott said.

“Josh has been bagging lunches since he was 4 with his older sister,” James Scott said. “I feel like that’s where Josh developed that rhythm of generosity, and I’m just grateful to God that everyone gets a chance to see who he organically is.”

Phillies fans Joshua Scott, left, and his dad, James, capture a special moment with a boy they met during a Braves-Phillies game in Atlanta on Friday, April 9, 2021. Josh gave the boy a home run ball hit by Braves star Freddie Freeman. The Scotts are from Charlotte.
Phillies fans Joshua Scott, left, and his dad, James, capture a special moment with a boy they met during a Braves-Phillies game in Atlanta on Friday, April 9, 2021. Josh gave the boy a home run ball hit by Braves star Freddie Freeman. The Scotts are from Charlotte.

Josh’s decision to give the ball away seemed to have shocked the Braves’ TV announcers.

Seconds earlier, they’d had a field day with the continually dropped ball.

“His dad is letting him have it” for dropping the ball, one of the announcers joked.

“How can you drop that?” the same announcer asked. “Then he drops it again. Oh man! Dad’s all over him.”

“Puts his hoodie on. ‘I don’t want to be seen with this kid.’ Totally disses his kid. Dad’s going to make him walk home.”

None of which was true, of course, the Scotts confirmed.

They told the Observer they took what the announcers said in jest. James Scott said he was having great fun at the time, making a big show of putting the hoodie over his head for exaggerated effect.

The announcers quickly became serious when Josh gave the ball to the boy, a 10-year-old from Charleston.

“That’s a dad who’s raised his son right,” the second announcer said.

“Earns him a perfect 10,” said the first announcer. “He’s our fan of the game as far as I’m concerned.“

Famous baseball players meet Josh

After the game, one of Josh’s favorite Phillies players, J.T. Realmuto, gave him his bat, which he autographed.

“I love what you did,” Josh said the player told him. “Keep going.”

The Scotts were invited back to Atlanta’s Truist Park for the Braves-Phillies game last Sunday, where Freeman gave him a ball he’d signed with Bryce Harper, Josh’s other favorite Phillies player.

“I love what you did, man,” Josh said Freeman told him. “It was pretty good that you gave the ball to that kid. I love that.”

In his interview with the Observer on Wednesday, Josh said: “It’s always better to give it to somebody else” for whom the ball would mean so much more.

He credited his parents.

“That’s just how I was raised,” he said. “To think about somebody ... other than yourself.”