It’s crazy to think that we are approaching a decade since the day I became one of the most viral videos in all of baseball. 

After all, the summer doesn’t truly start until the video of me being struck in the groin with the first pitch at a Boston Red Sox game in Aug. 2017 pops up in the social media algorithm. 

I was fortunate to get a media credential to cover Boston Red Sox games as a freelance photographer for the newspaper I worked for as a page designer back in 2017, the Eagle-Tribune in Andover, MA.

That faithful day was a celebration of the 1967 “Red Sox Nation” team who reached the World Series. Among the alumni is a legendary player who has a statue of him standing tall outside the stadium. A photo of Carl Yastrzemski dapping it up with Walley the Green Monster would’ve been the perfect photo for my colleague’s article. 

However, it wasn’t simply the 50th anniversary of an American League pennant, but also the Jimmy Fund radiothon, for the benefit of the Red Sox’s chief charity that treats kids with cancer. One of the kids who benefited from the fund went on to appear in the movie “Fever Pitch” singing the national anthem while receiving treatment, and returned to throw the ceremonial first pitch. 

Now the assignment has changed. I was to get a snappy photo of this kid throwing the first pitch with the legends behind him. At the time, he was a high school pitcher, so I had no reason not to feel safe. 

All the other photographers were on the right side of home plate. I chose to shoot from the left side because the kid was throwing with his right hand. I would have his face and the pitch fully in front of me. My lens was fixated on him from the wind-up to the follow-through. My index finger stayed pressed on the shutter button throughout the pitch. One of these pictures would be the one. 

Then it happened.

I lost sight of the ball from my viewfinder, but I never thought the ball would be coming toward me. I was struck in the groin, but the shock of the moment got to me more. I felt a little pain but laughing at the absurdity of what happened eventually hurt more. Imagine, me, born in Boston in 1990, on the field in Fenway Park, getting hit in the midsection by a high school pitcher throwing out the first pitch in front of a capacity crowd. 

Staring at the crowd looking at me, laughing at my pain, it felt like I was seeing what the players saw when they were on the field. My view at that moment matched their view. I couldn’t help but laugh. I looked up and saw the Red Sox mascot towering over me with his head eclipsing the setting sun, asking me in his human voice, “How close was it to the family jewels?”

I couldn’t help but laugh. 

As I was trying to take pictures of the action, my phone started blowing up, notification after notification, I became consumed with the reaction on social media. I looked over my photos and discovered the photo with the ball seemingly coming toward me. The pitcher was blurred in the background with his mouth agape. 

I not only had to send this picture to my reporter, but also to the world.