Dodgers fan who caught Manny Machado HR pulls hilarious trick to keep ball

Manny Machado broke up the monotony of Sunday's Dodgers-Padres game, sitting at 0-0 at the top of the fourth, when he cranked a solo home run to put San Diego on the board. The Dodgers went on to respond quickly in the bottom of the inning on a Will Smith RBI single, followed by a Max Muncy two-run home run, but for a little while, the broadcast's attention remained on the fan who made a fantastic catch to snag Machado's home run ball.

He'd come to the ballpark prepared with a glove and made a jumping, fully extended reach to grab it. He was seen throwing it back onto the field and getting high-fives from the rest of the Dodger faithful in the bleachers for it, but the ESPN booth was quick to call a bluff. The fan caught the ball, quickly hid it in his glove, then sneakily retrieved a completely different ball from his pocket to throw onto the field. Sneaky, sneaky! This guy knew exactly what he was doing.

Dodgers fan pulled a great switcheroo to keep Manny Machado's home run ball and avoid the ire of LA fans

Buster Olney ventured out into the stands for an in-game interview with the fan (click to watch), a self-described ball hawk, who already realized he'd been caught on the broadcast making the switch. He owned up to it easily enough, acknowledging that he would've gotten "boo'ed mercilessly by the Dodger faithful" if he hadn't thrown something back, and said that kind of thing had actually happened to him before, so he brought a spare. Just in case.

He said none of the fans in the stands with him caught onto the trick, but he unfortunately couldn't slip past ESPN's cameras. He admitted that he was going to keep it anyway, and it was going to go on his mantle next to an Albert Pujols Home Run Derby ball.

He also said his wife would probably be upset with him because he'd collected too many baseballs, and he might also have a few of those aforementioned Dodger faithful on his tail for keeping a Machado home run ball, but we have to salute him for the forward thinking.