Jersey kid with Dewayne Wise 'caught' ball says it wasn't a catch

The person who ended up with New York Yankee Dewayne Wise's infamous "caught" fly ball Tuesday night wasn't the guy who grabbed it or even the guy who tried to stuff the loose ball back into the leftfielder's glove— it was a seven-year old kid from New Jersey.

Little Ben Pikor ended up going home with the ball that umpire Mike DiMuro didn't look for and that Wise never sufficiently caught in his glove.

"I thought I was in a dream," the little Yankees fan told the New York Daily News.  "But I think the umpire made a bad call."

Ben was sitting with his mom, Anne Marie, along the third-base line at Yankee Stadium when the Cleveland Indians' Jack Hannahan popped a ball in their direction.  After Wise tumbled into the seats for the wayward ball, a mad scrum broke out and one fan, Vinnie Pellegrino, picked the ball from the floor and handed it to his pal Sal Azzariti— who tried to sneak it back into Wise's glove.

After the two adults tried to help the unsuspecting Wise with the great foul ball hoax, they slipped the incriminating evidence [the ball] to the kid.

DiMuro said the ball was caught, killing any chance of an Indians seventh-inning rally in a game the Yankees ended up winning, 6-4.

Ben's mom said, "It happend so quickly and the security guards were right there.  Dewayne tumbled into the seats and everyone was looking around, 'Where's the ball?  Where's the ball?,'  Vinnie had picked up the ball and was holding it above his head.  But the umpire comes over and yells, 'Out!.'"

It's a good thing for Yankees fans little Ben wasn't the ump.

"It was a fly ball in foul territory, coming toward us.  My cousin [Emily] was trying to catch it," said Pikor, a Little Leaguer.  "We didn't notice that Dewayne Wise was so close to us.  He just dove right into the stands.  It hit off the heel of his glove.  He didn't even catch it."

Out of the mouth of babes... even if they're Yankees fans.

VIDEO OF CATCH

Umps blow call on Yankees catch but did fan try putting ball in fielder's glove?

Derek Jeter was celebrating his 38th birthday but it was left fielder Dewayne Wise who might have gotten the best gift of all last night after the New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Indians, 6-4, in the Bronx.

Wise dove into the leftfield stands for a fly ball hit by the Indians' Jack Hannahan with a man on third during the seventh inning.  The umpires ruled a catch on the play for the final out of the inning but replays clearly show the ball falling out of Wise's mitt even though he mysteriously came up with the ball.

Upon closer examination of the play, it looks like one of the fans Wise plowed into could have— I said could have— popped the loose ball into his glove during the scrum even though a few of New York's Finest were right there.

That's hometown cooking.  Wise even got a police escort out of the stands as well.

Yankees starter Phil Hughes went eight shutout innings and benefited from the botched call and the Indians big chance at a rally.

Some Yankees fans might say Wise deserved credit for the catch based on effort alone. Apparently, Hannahan wasn't one of those and he was thrown out after getting into a heated argument with the umpires about the call.

The run ended up being more important later after reliever Corey Wade nearly coughed up the 4-0 lead when Cleveland rallied in the ninth.

Meanwhile, Jeter continued his climb up the all-time hits list and moved within one hit of his idol Cal Ripken Jr. for 13th on the list.