You could call it a pretty good week for Millville, New Jersey's 19-year-old Major League Baseball standout, Mike Trout.
Trout, who is currently the youngest player in the league, graduated from Millville High School in Cumberland County. He had been batting just .162 since his debut on July 8 with the Los Angeles Angels, but had his first multi-hit game on Thursday for the team, according to the Inquirer.
Sunday’s home run, which came in the 8th inning, helped to propel his team to 9-3 victory over Baltimore Orioles. The Angels organization reports that Trout’s home run is the first by a teenager since Justin Upton in August, 2007. Trout was drafted by the Angels in a 25th overall pick in 2009.
Trout had family and friends at the game, including his parents, brother, and girlfriend at the game, according to the Angels.
And Trout got the ball back without much of a struggle. A New York-based writer and collector, Zack Hample, who caught the ball, was offered $500 by another fan, according to The Los Angeles Times. Hample declined the offer, and instead, returned the ball to Trout.
"I simply told stadium security that I wanted to be the one to hand the ball back to Trout so that I could shake his hand," Hample told the paper.
Hample received a signed baseball as a token of gratitude from Trout, but says that being part of the history, was more important.
"His token gift was cool but it really didn't mean nearly as much as simply catching the home run in the first place and getting to be a part of this historic moment,” he told the Times.
Trout apparently could not stop smiling in the locker room after the game, according to the Angels organization, but tried to remain calm.
"I had fun today," he said. "I'm just having a blast,” he said in a post-game interview.
On Monday, the USA Today even made a comparison to Mickey Mantle, Trout is just 535 home runs shy of the Mick.
