Sports
Plaschke: How one man lost Shohei Ohtani's 40-40 home run ball and found L.A. love in return
His life was changing. A winning lottery ticket was approaching. Tony Voda was ready.
He was going to be rich. He was going to be famous. Magic was happening, and as the baseball fell from the night sky, Tony Voda was ready to live a miracle.
Shohei Ohtani was in the process of entering baseball’s 40-40 club with a walk-off grand slam in the ninth inning last week at Chavez Ravine, one of the most dramatic blasts in the long history of Dodger Stadium, and this anonymous insurance analyst from Minneapolis was right in the middle of it.
“Right up until the last second against the beautiful black night sky, I can see the ball, it’s seared into my mind, this is happening, this is really happening,” Voda recalls. “The crowd is screaming but you’re not hearing it, your senses shut down, tunnel vision happens, and all you can think of is, don’t mess this up.”
Then the unthinkable occurred, an event that forever changed Tony Voda on his way to becoming a hero.
He messed it up.
Shohei Ohtani hits a walk-off grand slam for the Dodgers against the Rays to join the 40-40 club.
A gazillion video replays have chillingly shown it a gazillion times.
He messed it up.
“A life-changing event was in my hands,” he said, “and I literally dropped the ball.”
This, then, would seem to be not your usual home-run catching story of good luck and great fortune, but a tale of deep remorse and enduring regret.
Except for one twist as pronounced as Ohtani’s swing.
On a Friday night when Tony Voda figured he was cursed, he was actually blessed.
For the man who will forever be known for one of the biggest fan errors in Dodger Stadium history, it wasn’t about what he lost, it was about what he gained.
Tony Voda waves before a game between the Dodgers and Tampa Bay Rays at Dodger Stadium on Aug. 23.
(Courtesy of Tony Voda)
It looks so easy and natural on television. But in real life, catching a home-run ball is about as easy as catching a raindrop in a thunderstorm.
“The average fan has no idea,” says Matt Walker, one of a dozen members of “Dodgerhawks,” a group of season-ticket holders that gathers at Dodger Stadium in an attempt to catch homers.
It’s nearly impossible.
“Did you see it clearly off the bat because you’ve been following every pitch? Are you on your phone? Is it hooking? Drawing? Is the wind a factor?” Walker explained. “The crowd is elbow to elbow and you’re getting pushed and shoved usually. Is it going to clear the wall, are you at risk of interference, is the outfielder bearing down?”
Walker said the conditions for such a catch are frightful.
“Are you standing in spilled beer, water bottles, and loose peanut shells? Are the lights a factor? The sun?” he said. “Oh yeah, and it’s coming in at 100-plus miles-per-hour. And the whole thing takes maybe three seconds.”
Tony Voda, 40, knows these truths. He has been chasing home run balls in stadiums all over the country for 15 years and he’s caught exactly two.
“Home run balls are important to me because of that deep childhood tie to the game,” he said. “You see them going into the stands as a young kid and you not only want to be the guy who hit it, but the kid who has the souvenir.
“It’s one of the only pieces of sports that rarely makes it into the stands but is coveted by many because of how elusive it is.”
It’s so elusive, Voda paid several hundred dollars a couple of months ago for one of the Dodgers’ celebrated home-run seats lining the outfield walls. He picked a random game against the Tampa Rays as part of a longer baseball trip through California.
He had no idea Ohtani would be on the verge of becoming only the sixth player in baseball history to reach 40 home runs and 40 steals in a single season. He could never have dreamed that Ohtani would steal his 40th base in the fourth inning and then come to the plate with bases loaded into the ninth with a chance to make history.
“I would have been happy if any Dodger scrub hit it to me,” he said. “And then this happened.”
This, meaning Ohtani lofting a ball high toward the right-center field wall.
This, meaning that ball barely clearing the fence and falling directly toward Voda’s rainbow-colored glove.
This, meaning the ball bouncing off Voda’s glove and back to the field, where it is finally picked up by outfielder Jose Siri and thrown back into the stands far beyond Voda’s reach.
Grand slam. Grand boot.
“Every fan’s worst nightmare,” said Walker.
Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani hits a walk-off grand slam against the Tampa Bay Rays for his 40th home run of the season on Aug. 23.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
Gone was a chance to meet Ohtani and return the ball, which Voda said he would have done. Gone was a six-figure payday if Ohtani didn’t want to exchange anything for the ball. Gone was the greatest moment of Voda’s baseball life.
He knew all this, and he knew it immediately. Watch the replay and notice that the moment the ball bounces off Voda’s glove, he puts his hands on his head with an expression of deep pain.
“Pure shock, disbelief,” Voda said. “My heart sank.”
As he stood there stewing in his agony, fully expecting jeers and catcalls from the surrounding pavilion crowd, the strangest thing happened.
His phone buzzed. It was Walker, who had met Voda before the game with other Dodgerhawks. He had already watched the replay and wanted to console Voda immediately.
“What just happened? What did I do?” Voda moaned into the phone.
“You did your best,” Walker told him. “You did all you could.”
Sure enough, the replay shows a fan on Voda’s left bumping the pinky of his glove just a few inches before the ball landed, enough to prevent the ball from burrowing deep into the glove’s pocket.
“I guess it’s the ‘Minnesota Nice’ in me, I should have boxed the guy out, but I just didn’t want to interfere with another fan,” said Voda.
Also noticeable was Voda’s refusal to move to the edge of the fence, from where he might have had a cleaner shot at the ball.
“I didn’t want to get called for fan interference and see the home run taken away, are you kidding me?” said Voda. “I was being very careful.”
Too careful? Maybe. But maybe not.
The good sportsmanship with which Voda handled himself was noticed not only by Walker, but by several fans who surrounded Voda while he was accepting that initial phone call.
“You could hear people all around Tony while I was talking to him, and everybody was already consoling him,” said Walker. “It was as if, when he put his hands over his head, we all put our hands over our heads.”
The outpouring of support continued throughout the ensuing drone show, fans from all sections surrounding him and patting his back and sharing his regret, with one fan even accompanying Voda to his car afterward to commiserate on his bad luck. Then there were the words of encouragement from one stranger he’ll never forget.
“A guy came up to me and just said, ‘Next time, poppa,’” Voda recalled. “Like he was actually giving me a pep talk.”
Dodger Stadium can be a cantankerous place, particularly when a ball is hit into the stands. If a fan catches an opposing player’s home run, the verbal pressure to throw the ball back can be deafening.
But on this night, Dodger Stadium was a sympathetic, understanding place that filled Tony Voda with a warmth that no catch could match.
By the time he returned to his hotel he had received several dozen texts and many online words of support. There was no trolling. There were no insults. There was only a sense of kinship among Dodger fans who, it turns out, not only are historically forgiving of the players, but are also forgiving of each other.
“To catch the ball would have been potentially life-changing, but, so, too, were the lessons I took away from missing it,” said Voda. “I know it sounds cheesy and silly, but while I may have lost a ball, I gained more love from Dodger fans than I knew I had, more love than I thought I deserved.”
Voda is back in Minneapolis now, but he is hoping to return to Dodger Stadium again one day, hang out with the Dodgerhawks, buy another home run seat, stick out that rainbow glove on a long fly ball, pray again for a miracle while knowing full well that he has already lived one.
“I love L.A.,” he said.
Moments before Ohtani’s swing, a security guard standing next to Voda wondered out loud if this game was headed for a movie script ending.
In all ways, it was, as Ohtani wasn’t the only one who went deep.
So, too, did humanity.
Sports
Tom Izzo explodes on former Michigan State player in wild scene: ‘What the f— are you doing?’
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Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo has been known to get visibly angry with his players over his years in East Lansing, but what happened Monday night against USC was different.
Izzo let loose his frustration on a former player.
During the Spartans’ blowout over the Trojans, 80-51, Izzo was spotted unloading on former Michigan State center Paul Davis, who played for the team from 2002-06, after he caused a disturbance in the stands.
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Head coach Tom Izzo of the Michigan State Spartans reacts to a call during a game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers during the first half at Pinnacle Bank Arena Jan. 2, 2026, in Lincoln, Neb. (Steven Branscombe/Getty Images)
Referees pointed out Davis, who was a spectator, from his courtside seat after he was among many in the building who disagreed with a call in the second half. Davis stood up and shouted at referee Jeffrey Anderson.
Anderson responded with a loud whistle, stopping play and pointing at Davis. Then, Anderson went over to Izzo to explain what happened, and the 70-year-old coach went ballistic.
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First, he was motioning toward Davis, and it was clear he asked his former center, “What the f— are you doing?”
Davis was met by someone asking him to leave his seat, and that’s when Izzo went nuts. He shouted “Get out of here!” at Davis, who appeared to gesture toward Izzo, perhaps in apology for disturbing the game.
Izzo was asked about Davis’ ejection after the game.
“What he said, he should never say anywhere in the world,” Izzo responded when asked what happened. “That ticked me off. So, just because it’s 25, 20 years later, I’m going to have to call him tomorrow and tell him what I thought of it. And you know what he’ll say? ‘I screwed up, coach. I’m sorry.’”
Izzo quickly clarified that what Davis said “wasn’t something racial” and “it wasn’t something sexual.”
Michigan State Spartans head coach Tom Izzo protests a call that benefited the Iowa Hawkeyes during the first half at Jack Breslin Student Events Center Dec. 2, 2025. (Dale Young/Imagn Images)
“It was just the wrong thing to say, and I’ll leave it at that.”
Davis later met with reporters Tuesday, apologizing for his actions.
“I’m not up here to make any excuses. I’m up here to take accountability, to own it,” Davis said. It was a mistake that will never happen again. It was a mistake that’s not me, but, unfortunately, last night it was.”
Izzo said Davis was one of his “favorite guys” during his time playing for the Spartans. He had a breakout sophomore campaign with 15.8 points, 6.2 rebounds and two assists per game in 30 starts for Izzo during the 2003-04 season.
Head coach Tom Izzo of the Michigan State Spartans reacts during a game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers during the second half at Pinnacle Bank Arena Jan. 2, 2026, in Lincoln, Neb. (Steven Branscombe/Getty Images)
In his senior year, Davis averaged 17.5 points, a career-high, in 33 games.
He was taken in the second round of the 2006 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Clippers. Davis played just four seasons in the league, his final one with the Washington Wizards.
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MADISON, Wis. — Can a team be in crisis just a handful of games into conference play?
UCLA is testing that possibility given what happened here Tuesday night as part of a larger downward trend.
Lacking one of their top players with guard Skyy Clark sidelined by a hamstring injury, the Bruins also were deficient in many other areas.
Defense. Heart. Toughness. Cohesion. Intelligence.
In a game that the Bruins needed to win to get their season back on track and have any realistic chance at an elite finish in the Big Ten, they fell flat once more.
Another terrible first half led to another failed comeback for UCLA during an 80-72 loss to Wisconsin on Tuesday night at the Kohl Center, leaving the Bruins in search of answers that seem elusive.
There was a dustup with 10 seconds left when UCLA’s Eric Dailey Jr. pushed Wisconsin’s Nolan Winter after absorbing a hard foul, forcing a scrum of players to congregate along the baseline. Winter was assessed a flagrant-1 foul and Dailey a technical foul that was offset by a technical foul on Badgers guard Nick Boyd.
About the only thing to celebrate for the Bruins was not giving up.
Thanks to a flurry of baskets from Dailey and a three-pointer from Trent Perry that broke his team’s 0-for-14 start from long range, UCLA pulled to within 63-56 midway through the second half. Making the Bruins’ rally all the more improbable was that much of it came with leading scorer Tyler Bilodeau on the bench with four fouls.
But Wisconsin countered with five consecutive points and the Bruins (10-5 overall, 2-2 Big Ten) never mounted another threat on the way to a second consecutive loss.
Dailey scored 18 points but missed all five of his three-pointers, fitting for a team that made just one of 17 shots (5.9%) from long range. Bilodeau added 16 points and Perry had 15.
Boyd scored 20 points to lead the Badgers (10-5, 2-2), who won in large part by their volume of three-pointers, making 10 of 30 attempts (33.3%) from beyond the arc.
Unveiling a turnover-choked, defensively challenged performance, UCLA played as if it were trying to top its awful first-half showing against Iowa from three days earlier.
It didn’t help that the Bruins were shorthanded from tipoff.
With Clark unavailable, UCLA coach Mick Cronin turned to Perry and pivoted to a smaller lineup featuring forward Brandon Williams alongside Bilodeau as the big men.
For the opening 10 minutes, it felt like a repeat of Wisconsin’s blowout victory over UCLA during the Big Ten tournament last March. The Badgers made seven of 11 three-pointers on the way to building a 20-point lead midway through the first half as Cronin continually tinkered with his lineup, trying to find a winning combination.
It never came.
He tried backup center Steven Jamerson II for a little more than a minute before yanking him after Jamerson committed a foul. He put in backup guard Jamar Brown and took him out after Brown gave up a basket and fumbled a pass out of bounds for a turnover. Backup guard Eric Freeny got his chance as well and airballed a three-pointer.
Wisconsin surged ahead with an early 13-0 run and nearly matched it with a separate 11-0 push. The Bruins then lost Perry for the rest of the first half after he hit his chin while diving for a loose ball, pounding the court in frustration with a balled fist before holding a towel firmly against his injured chin during a timeout. (He returned in the second half with a heavy bandage.)
Just when it seemed as if things couldn’t get worse, they did. Williams limped off the court with cramps late in the first half and the Bruins failed to box out Wisconsin’s Andrew Rohde on two possessions, leading to a putback and two free throws after he was fouled on another putback attempt.
UCLA almost seemed fortunate to be down only 45-31 by the game’s midpoint, though being on pace to give up 90 points couldn’t have pleased a coach known for defense.
Another comeback that came up short didn’t make things any better.
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Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa open to fresh start elsewhere after disappointing season: ‘That would be dope’
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Tua Tagovailoa appears to be ready to move on from the Miami Dolphins – a feeling that seems mutual between the two sides.
Tagovailoa was benched for the final three games of the season due to poor performance. A day after the Dolphins’ season ended with a 38-10 loss to division rival New England, the sixth-year signal-caller appeared open to the idea of a “fresh start.”
Mike McDaniel speaks with Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (1) in the fourth quarter of a game against the Buffalo Bills at Hard Rock Stadium on Sept. 25, 2022, in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
“That would be dope. I would be good with it,” Tagovailoa said Monday, according to The Palm Beach Post, when asked specifically if he was “hoping for a fresh start.”
When asked by another reporter if he understood “fresh start” as playing “elsewhere,” Tagovailoa reportedly confirmed it.
The remarks came the same day that head coach Mike McDaniel confirmed that the team would be approaching the 2025-2026 season with a competitive mindset for the position.
“In 2026, I think there will be competition for our starting quarterback. What that is and how that looks, there’s a lot that remains to be seen. It’s the most important position on the football field, and you have to make sure you do everything possible to get the best person out there on the field.”
Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa runs off the field during the first half of an NFL football game against the New England Patriots in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on Jan. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
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“Who that is – whether they’re in-house or somewhere else, that’s something that we’ll be extremely diligent on,” he continued. “But I know there will be competition for those reins. That much I do know.”
Tagovailoa threw for 2,660 yards with 20 touchdowns this season, but he struggled with accuracy and mobility, throwing a career-high of 15 interceptions. His poor performance comes just one season after signing a four-year, $212.4 million contract extension in July 2024.
Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa speaks during a press conference after an NFL football game against the Baltimore Ravens, Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Florida. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
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The Dolphins face a serious decision regarding Tagovailoa, as releasing him next year would result in a $99 million dead cap charge. If the move is designated as a post-June 1 release, those charges would be split over two years, with $67.4 million allocated to the 2026 cap and $31.8 million in 2027.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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