BALTIMORE — Christopher Disalvo is a 4-foot-4 middle infielder with a baseball obsession. He lives on Long Island, N.Y., but saw his idol from section 48, row 21, seat 4 at Camden Yards. Jose Altuve ambled into the on-deck circle and heard Disalvo call his shot.
“I asked him, ‘If you hit a home run, can I have your bat?’” Disalvo said.
Altuve annihilated the second pitch he saw 382 feet into the right field seats, supplied his dugout with the requisite high fives and handed Disalvo a memory the 11-year-old will never forget. Altuve called Disalvo down from his seat, gave him a fist bump and gifted him the orange bat he had just used.
“Oh my God,” Disalvo said afterward, still clutching the bat. “The happiest moment of my life.”
(Photo: Chandler Rome / The Athletic)
Stadium officials whisked Disalvo, his father, Chris Sr., and a little league teammate into the concourse at Camden Yards, where the bat got authenticated and kept for the final seven innings of Baltimore’s 7-5 win.
“Obviously, the last few days have been a little tough for me, haven’t been feeling great at the plate,” said Altuve, who had just six extra-base hits across his previous 30 games.
“For him to call a homer and I actually hit it was big for me. I was happy, probably happier than him. The only thing I could do was just give him my bat.”
On the concourse, Chris Sr. clutched the Orioles cap his son wore while shouting at Altuve. That allegiance mattered so little to Altuve but resonated with Chris Sr., who earned a new level of admiration for a player still serenaded with boos in most ballparks he enters.