PHOENIX — For most baseball fans, catching a home-run ball is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. For Arizona Diamondbacks fan Allan "AJ" Johnson, it happened twice — on consecutive days, off the bat of the same player, in the same inning.
The remarkable streak happened over Mother's Day weekend in May when Johnson caught two home runs hit by San Francisco Giants shortstop Willy Adames during the second inning of back-to-back games at Chase Field.
The odds of such a feat are extraordinarily slim — something odds-makers have estimated in the tens of millions to one.
For Johnson, though, the catches carried a much deeper meaning.
The second catch came on what would have been his late mother's birthday. She was the one who introduced him to baseball, taking him to games as a child and buying him the glove he still uses today — the same glove that snagged both home run balls.
"They're basically having fun up there and saying, 'Hey, everything is going to be alright. It's all good,'" Johnson said of what he believes were signs from above.
Instead of simply celebrating the rare accomplishment, Johnson decided to use the moment to give back.
When the Giants returned to Phoenix this week, Johnson and his wife, Mary Jane, purchased 90 tickets for Monday night's game and another 180 tickets for Tuesday's game, inviting family members, friends, neighbors, and coworkers to join them in the left-field bleachers.
The couple also bought matching Serpientes-themed shirts that said 'Jesus Won' and rally towels so the group could cheer together.
"I can't tell you how many times we've heard, 'You should play the lottery,'" Johnson said. "It's not about that. It's about giving that opportunity to spread good. I am in no way a professional athlete, but professional athletes have a voice, and they use their platform to spread good, and that's what it's about for us."
While catching one home-run ball is rare and catching two is almost unheard of, Johnson says sharing the experience with more than 200 loved ones is what made the moment truly unforgettable.
Johnson is hoping to add one more memory to the story this week.
With the Giants back at Chase Field, he hopes Adames will be able to autograph the second home run ball. Adames missed Monday's game while
recovering from an injury, but Johnson and his family plan to return Tuesday night, still hoping to get the prized souvenir signed.
If you're at Chase Field, Johnson says you'll have no trouble finding the group — just look for the sea of purple shirts in the left-field bleachers.
