Dodgers fan pulled switcheroo after catching a 'hated Padre' homer. Why did he keep the ball?

LOS ANGELES — As soon as he heard the crack of the bat, lifelong Dodgers fan Renan Zuniga knew exactly what to do.

The 45-year-old finance manager from Victorville, Calif., sprung out of his usual seat in the left-field bleachers at Dodger Stadium, jumped as high and stretched as far as he could, and made a fantastic catch to pull down a home run ball San Diego Padres star Manny Machado hit off Dodgers pitcher James Paxton on Sunday evening.

Zuniga wasn't done with the slick moves. Immediately after landing on his feet and securing the home run ball in the glove on his left hand, Zuniga slipped his right hand into the pocket of his Dodgers jacket, pulled out another ball and threw it onto the field.

It was an attempt to create the illusion that he was tossing back the home run ball hit by an opposing player — something he had no intention of doing with the first home run ball he ever caught on the fly during a baseball game after nearly two decades of trying.

"It was just reactionary," Zuniga told The Los Angeles Times in a phone interview. "I didn't even think about it, I just knew what to do because in my head I rehearsed it a million times."

As it turns out, Zuniga might have been too well prepared for the moment. ESPN aired video of his "hidden ball trick" during its broadcast of the "Sunday Night Baseball" game in which the Padres earned a 6-3 win.

"I caught it and did it all so quickly that the camera still happened to have not panned away from me, you know?" Zuniga said. "And it also didn't help that it was a nationally televised game too."

ESPN's Buster Olney caught up with Zuniga for an in-game interview in which the affable fan admitted he "got caught" while trying to avoid getting "booed mercilessly by the Dodgers faithful" for not throwing back a home run ball hit by a "hated Padre."

Zuniga was speaking from experience.

He started attending Dodgers games at age 7 with his mother, Joyce, who died in 2021. He now attends 25 to 30 games a year, usually accompanied by either his 19-year-old daughter, Taylor; his 17-year-old nephew, Daniel Villela; his 8-year-old nephew, Mikey Gullart; or his aunt, Avis Latscha (his 24-year-old daughter, Kaitlyn, used to attend games with him as well, but she now lives in Omaha).

...continued

swipe to next page