Steve Mears and Tim Cervenka are friends. Not your typical BFF type friends, but friends nonetheless. Their friendship is based primarily on two things: 1) their insatiable passion for the Dodgers; and 2) their equally insatiable passion for trying to catch home run balls in the Left Field Pavilion.

During most home games the 55-year-old Mears from Westlake Village and the 20-year-old Cervenka from Santa Clarita can be found waiting for the gates to open at Dodger Stadium so that they can take in batting practice, with hopes of catching balls hit into the LFP. In most cases, who hits the ball isn’t really important (with a few exceptions). What is important is catching the ball on the fly – a badge of honor among their peers, who are often referred to as “ball hawks.” In fact, it’s not uncommon for Steve, Tim and their fellow ball hawks to catch batting practice home run balls and immediately give them away to kids.

But once Vin Scully announces that “It’s tiiiime for Dodger Baseball,” all bets are off. Hey, even friendship has its limits.

Catching (or scooping up) a live-game home run ball – or a “gamer” as they are affectionately called – is the ultimate badge of honor, the ultimate prize for every ball hawk. In fact, a live-game home run ball often means more to the ball hawk than it does to the guy hitting the home run – walk-off home runs notwithstanding.

During Tuesday night’s exciting game between the Dodgers and the Seattle Mariners at Dodger Stadium, Dodgers utility infielder/outfielder Alex Guerrero hit a game-changing two-run pinch-hit home run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The instant it was hit there was no doubt that it was a home run. Mears, who has season seats in section 307 of the Left Field Pavilion, immediately ran onto the landing of the stairs of his section because the ball was headed in that direction. Cervenka, who was sitting in his father’s season seats in section 309, knew immediately that he would have no chance to catch the ball because it was hit one full section to his right. But instead of just waiting and watching the ball land, Cervenka ran down the stairs in hopes that it might just clear the wall and land in the area beneath the pavilion seats where he might have a shot of scooping it off of the ground – a little trick that his father taught him many years earlier.

As soon as Alex Guerrero hit the ball it was obvious that it was going to be a home run – his second of the season. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

With their focus fully on the approaching ball and their adrenaline flowing at its max, Steve had no idea where Tim was and Tim no idea where Steve was.

The chances of having a gamer hit directly at you are extremely rare and if you are fortunate enough to have it happen to you, the pressure of catching it is magnified into what can only be described as shear panic. You immediate get tunnel vision, your heart begins pounding so hard you can almost hear it, and the one and only thought screaming through your mind is “Do not blow this. Do not drop this ball.”

Steve Mears dropped the ball.

There is no worse fate for a ball hawk than dropping a gamer. But the simple truth is that it’s not as easy as it looks (because of the aforementioned reasons) and to ridicule those who experience this fate worse than death is both unfair and cruel – and if you think otherwise, you have obviously never been in this situation.

(Video capture courtesy of SportsNet LA)

By virtue of Steve’s painful misfortune, Tim, who had put himself in the perfect position to scoop up the ball, did exactly that. He then ran back up the stairs to section 309 and proudly assumed the Kershaw no-hitter pose holding both the ball and his glove over his head.

Tim Cervenka doing the Kershaw no-hitter thing with Guerrero’s home run ball in hand.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Tim had absolutely no idea that it was his friend Steve who had dropped the ball until he (and 43,114 other Dodger fans) saw a replay of Guerrero’s home run on the jumbotron. But there was zero doubt that Steve had seen his friend Tim end up with what should have been his ball. But as pained as Steve was about his misfortune, he was gracious about it and handled it better than one might expect.

“I can’t believe I dropped it,” Mears said later (repeatedly). “But at least it was a friend of mine who got it. I’m happy for Tim.”

Tim with his first-ever gamer.
(Photo credit – @Queen_Mari7)

Even though Tim is happy about getting his first-ever live game home run ball, he feels bad for his friend Steve.

“It was a really tough catch to make,” Cervenka said. “Steve had to reach way out and turn his glove around and try to backhand it. I’m not sure anyone could have made that catch, especially with the stairs and the railing to deal with. But I feel bad for Steve.”

Bad enough to give the ball to Steve?

Hey, even friendship has its limits.