On Wednesday night, a storm knocked out some of the power in Tropicana Field during the third inning of a game between the Rays and Blue Jays. One enterprising fan decided to whip out his laptop and video chat with his nephew in Venezuela.
Once the game picked back up, the fan with the laptop caught the attention of the broadcast, briefly giving us the delightful image of what appeared to be a man watching a game live via Facebook:
We had so many questions about what we saw — Was this the most direct and personal game broadcast ever? Was it a planned event? Luckily, Jairo — the Venezuelan Rays (and Tigres de Aragua) fan in the chat — saw himself on the internet and reached out to us. We reached right back to get to the bottom of this curious moment of baseball television. Our questions and his responses (translated from Spanish) are below.
★★★
Are you originally from Venezuela? How did you become a Rays fan?
I am from Venezuela ... I like the Rays because Victor Zambrano, who's Venezuelan, played for them in 2001. I enjoy watching Evan Longoria play, he's a great player.
Whose idea was it for you to video chat with your uncle during the game?
It was my idea. I asked him to show me Tropicana Field, since I don't have a visa to come to the US, and it's hard for me to imagine an MLB stadium — and I like baseball.
What was the purpose of the chat? Did you get to watch any of the game or just look around the stadium? Does your uncle often chat with you from games?
The chat was to show me a little of the structure of the stadium and the field, and to make me feel like I was in the stands at a Major League game. I'd just seen the stadium from the outside. I love baseball, it's a Venezuelan passion. I wasn't able to see any of the plays because the image wasn't very good.
It was the first time that my uncle had chatted with me from a stadium, we'd never done it before. It was something that happened while the game was delayed.
You appear to have a lot of autographed baseballs! Whose signatures do you have?
Yes, I have a lot of autographed balls. I'm a fan of Miguel Cabrera and Derek Jeter. Jose Abreu, Bob Feller, Barry Bonds, Dave Concepcion, Frank Thomas, Avisail Garcia, Sam Fuld, Martin Prado, Omar Vizquel, Ozzie Guillen, Mark Teixeira, Felix Hernandez, Pablo Sandoval. I have a lot of autographs, we love baseball.
When did you realize your image had made it to TV and the internet?
I realized when I saw it on Twitter. I never thought this would happen -- no bad intentions or broadcast violation, my uncle just wanted to show me an MLB stadium.
PS. I don't have an Evan Longoria autograph.
★★★
1. Video-chatting your far-off nephew is an excellent way to kill time during a delay.
2. We're glad Jairo got to glimpse the inside of an MLB stadium, but we hope he can someday come to the U.S. and do better than a storm-battered Tropicana Field via video chat.
3. Let's get this man his Evan Longoria autograph, eh?
Thanks so much to Jairo for talking to us and demystifying one of the funnier parts of Wednesday night.
(Thanks to Dara Lind for help translating)