Cat runs onto the field during Yankees game, a breakdown
What Happened
In the bottom of the eighth inning of a lopsided game between the New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles, star Yankee slugger Aaron Judge steps up to the plate. As the pitcher delivers the next pitch, a small kitten suddenly appears on the field, running down the left field line. The umpire, pitcher and players are unaware of the furry intruder at first, but a security guard quickly alerts Yankees head groundskeeper Denny Cunningham to the situation. Cunningham springs into action, telling his crew to handle the unexpected guest. Yankees outfielder Joey Gallo pauses the game momentarily, giving the grounds crew time to address the cat. The terrified kitten scampers across the field, narrowly avoiding the umpire as it searches for an escape. The bullpen staff debates whether to open a door to help the cat, but ultimately decide against it, leaving the kitten to fend for itself on the field. The grounds crew slowly approaches the cat, but their lack of proper equipment - no gloves, nets, or blankets - hampers their attempts to safely capture it. The kitten continues its frantic dash around the warning track, drawing gasps and laughter from the crowd. A fan filming the ordeal notes the Yankees' strict policy against long hair, suggesting the grounds crew may lack the right personnel to deal with a feline intruder. Eventually, a member of the crew with a ponytail and gloves arrives, identifying himself as the Rockies' animal control specialist. He cautiously approaches the cat, which continues to evade capture, jumping up on the outfield wall and trying unsuccessfully to leap across the barrier into the bullpen. The crowd cheers on the kitten's escape attempts, unwilling to see the feline removed from the field. After several more failed capture attempts, the cat finally breaks free and darts away from the grounds crew, disappearing into the Yankee Stadium concourse to the delight of the fans. The game resumes, but the unusual interruption has provided a memorable moment in this lopsided contest between the American League rivals.
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentthe orioles are up big against the
yankees bottom of the eighth inning nice
pitch strike one to aaron judge here
comes strike two on a foul
ball this one is brought to you by
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sportsbook app use promo code jomboy
when you do the next pitch is a ball out
and then we see that there's a little
kitten on the field
there's a little kitten down the left
field line scared confused
alone petrified the ump doesn't see him
pitcher doesn't see it
judge doesn't see it but the cop sees it
and tells danny cunningham head ground
screw
hey man there's a cat in the field denny
cunningham is like oh my god i gotta get
my guys hold on one more pitch
fouled back now joey gallo he's like hey
why don't we uh why don't we take a
little bit
time out got a cat in the field a guy in
the yellow shirt
cackling already ha ha cat the cat
not laughing scared runs past the umpire
all the way towards the left fielder
away from him confused alone worried
scared has no idea where to go that
guy's like should i open the door for
this cat should i not what do i do the
bullpen guy says cat
we got cat down there cat says i know
i'm down here i don't know where to go
meanwhile no ground screw is coming out
the cat is just
left to its own devices everyone's just
kind of looking at it wondering
are you going to leave you're slowing us
down jumps up on the wall
start scampering get scared get scared
meow you know
starts going backwards really sad
you're starting to feel for the cat
scamper scamper scamper
still no grounds crew what's going on
ground screw we saw you get warned come
on
i mean shout out danny cunningham best
in the biz
yankee stadium's beautiful this guy's
like i gotta film this
and he's like yeah we already got hers
out cat scared
confused sad
worry it's a bronx cat basically a giant
rat so now
here come grounds crew what are they
going to do they don't got gloves on
they don't got nets they don't got
nothing
they don't got a blanket to put over it
what's going on
cat runs away now look the ground screw
does get it surrounded but the cat's
actually going to do a hell of a little
k
turn here little complete circle pivot
like
like a handle of a clock look from 12
o'clock to 1 o'clock to 3 all the way
back danny cunningham
looking to scoop it up now i've run into
a theory here that i think because the
yankees don't allow long hair
even on the ground screw then obviously
you're not going to get any cat lovers
on the ground screw we saw what happens
when you have a cat lover on the ground
screw
they get done but you need a
ponytail all of a sudden the dude with
the ponytail comes with gloves on
and he's obviously the rocky's
animal control he's like hey come on i
got gloves in a ponytail obviously i'm
the one that's going to manhandle this
cat
let me take it back to our home that was
a much bigger manglier cat too this is
just a little kitten they got it
surrounded it's like okay guys i'm
just gonna run away from you bad
strategy
crowd's yelling at it cat's confused
doesn't know where to go
if you don't want to feel sad for a cat
don't watch this whole sequence because
it's really confused it doesn't know
what glass is
it jumps back on the ledge and then it's
going to try and jump
across into the bullpen but the
glass it doesn't know what glass is it's
confused by the glass see
and that's sad um and you don't want to
watch this and then
again here and now now danny
cunningham's running point
he's looking at the guy in the bulb and
he's like open that door man open that
door and the guy in the bullpen is like
you want me to open the door you want me
to keep it closed and they're like open
the damn door meanwhile the cat's
jumping trying to grab false
scared oh man it's just not good
eventually the cat's just gonna
jump on oh no and then it's gonna
beeline it away from the first guy goes
for the double hand grab and he misses
next guy goes for the hat catch he
misses next guy goes for the shoe
little trip roosky and he misses and the
cat's just
off to the races home free and the
yankees are like no
they don't know who they're rooting for
they're rooting for the cat obviously
scared little cat man look at it trying
to hide i hate cats and even i felt bad
for this cat
i like really hate cats and you know
they don't have gloves on right through
danny cunningham's legs
what are you gonna do pick up a bronx
cat without gloves on it's just bad
planning bad bad training you need some
gloves you need a blanket you need a guy
with
long hair ponytail obviously is the cat
handler
yanks don't have that the cat does
escape it goes away
and uh you know everyone's happy
especially this cop cops like good
damn i hate cats the guy hates cats
obviously he's got a buzz cut
so this one is brought to you by
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have odds now on will a cat run on the
field
maybe they do that i don't know you're
gonna have to download the app use promo
code john boehner and check it out if
they do put a lot of money on it bring
your cat to the game throw it on the
field it'll come home
that's what cats do maybe
depends if your cat likes you
you