Shuster possesses piece of baseball history

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On Friday night, baseball history was made when Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees blasted his 660th home run into the monster seats at Fenway.

It may have been a piece of tainted history with all of A-Rod’s steroid use, but a piece of history nonetheless.

The homer tied A-Rod for fourth on the all-time home run list with Hall of Famer Willie Mays.

Could you imagine being the one in the monster seats that caught that baseball?

Mike Shuster from Warwick can.

“I woke up Friday morning without a ticket to that game,” Shuster said. “I knew the historical significance of what could happen – I’m a big baseball fan. I’m going through my day and listening to sports radio, and they’re talking about what if A-Rod hits 660 at Fenway Park.”

Without even having a ticket, Shuster recalls taking a few minutes to envision what it would be like if he was the one to catch the home run ball.

Shuster did, however, intend to go up to Boston that night.

But the plan for Shuster was to go up to Boston to meet his girlfriend, who was going out to a paint bar with her friends – something that Shuster didn’t have much interest in doing – but was planning on meeting up with her afterwards.

The Warwick native didn’t feel like driving there around 10 p.m., so he decided to drive up early and grab a ticket for the Sox game.

From there, the rest is history.

Shuster, the guy who went to the Yankees-Red Sox game just to kill time, is now the owner of a piece of baseball history.

“When the ball was hit, in my head, I was like this ball is coming right to me – I can’t believe I envisioned this,” Shuster said.

And in an instance, his life changed.

Since Friday night, just about every major media outlet has tried to reach out to Shuster in one way or another.

The 25-year-old, who’s a financial advisor, has even been asked for an autograph by a stranger at a local diner that he eats at every morning.

But with all the good that has come with this movie-like occurrence, there has also been some negative feedback, as well.

There have been some things said by opinionated reporters that haven’t exactly portrayed Shuster as the greatest person in the world – none of which is justified.

“I genuinely enjoy reading it,” Shuster said. “For the people who are writing those articles who are being so negative on me, I have no problem, as long as you’re speaking on true facts. If you know I caught the ball and I didn’t return it, then that’s fine.”

One thing’s for sure – Shuster is looking to make the right decision for his future, and is genuinely interested in what people think he should do with the baseball.

“With where I’m at in my life, it’s about making a decision that’s right for my future,” Shuster said. “That’s not saying that I’m necessarily going to go and take the value of the ball today, but it’s more about making a logical decision and going through a process. Some media has put a spin on it, but for me, I’m genuinely interested in what people think I should do – Red Sox fans and Yankees’ fans.”

The Yankees have offered him an autographed A-Rod bat in exchange for the ball, but that didn’t spark any interest from Shuster, who, shockingly, isn’t an A-Rod fan.

But it isn’t necessarily because of the whole steroid thing.

When Shuster was growing up, A-Rod, Derek Jeter and Nomar Garciaparra were the premier shortstops, and as a Sox fan, Shuster always believed that Garciaparra was the best.

But likes and dislikes aside, Shuster isn’t looking for any type of package from the Yankees.

“At this point, I don’t think that would be the most productive thing to do,” Shuster said.

He has done his homework, though, reaching out to collectors, Major League Baseball and the Baseball Hall of Fame, understanding that the opinions of those individuals and organizations are extremely valuable.

Selling the ball isn’t the only option, however. As a fan of the game, Shuster has considered just hanging on to the ball.

“That’s definitely something that’s on the table,” Shuster said. “This is something that’s special to me because it truly is a once in a lifetime, struck by lightning thing. I can say that I’m leaning towards keeping it.”

Shuster is still going to take some more time to get additional feedback before he goes forth and makes a decision.

But he and a friend did create a Twitter account – @arods660hrball – which asks for suggestions regarding what he should do with the ball, as he does genuinely value the opinions out there.

The last few days have been a whirlwind, and it’s all because of the last minute decision Shuster made to attend the game.

“The stars really did align,” Shuster said. “Me going to the game was completely circumstantial. I wouldn’t have gone there if it didn’t make perfect sense from a planning perspective.”

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