Not many birthday gifts compare to catching the baseball that Derek Jeter crushed for a home run and his 3,000th hit. And perhaps not many fans would want to give that present back for free. But Christian Lopez had no problem doing so.
Lopez, who attended Saturday's Yankees-Rays game as a birthday gift, managed to snag the historic baseball after fighting off fans in section 236. Afterward, the lifelong Yankees fan gave the ball back to Jeter, the New York Daily News reports.
"He deserved this," Lopez told YES Network. "He worked so hard for this. He's been in the league for so long. I'm not really the kind to take something away from him. He earned it."
After catching the milestone baseball, Lopez, who was accompanied by his girlfriend, Tara Johnson, and his father, was escorted out of the stadium by security.
Lopez told the team that he didn't want anything in return, but the Yankees rewarded the gesture by handing Lopez four seats at a Yankee Stadium suite for the rest of the season and the playoffs.
