x
Breaking News
More () »

Watch Jeff Banister casually snag a hard-hit foul ball with his bare hand

Jeff Banister rejected what we all thought we knew about how you're supposed to catch a baseball during Monday night's win.

Since its genesis with Alexander Cartwright – or Abner Doubleday, if that’s your cup of tea – the expectation in baseball is that one catches with a glove on his non-dominant hand.

Well, Rangers manager Jeff Banister isn’t here for the sport’s societal constructs.

On Monday night, Banister taught a two-part course in Badassery 101 in the Rangers dugout.

Lesson No. 1: Laughing off a screaming line drive in your direction.

In the first inning, Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman Eduardo Escobar scorched a ball toward Banister’s roost at the home plate side of the Rangers’ first-base dugout. The broadcast camera only caught the thud of the ball striking the dugout fence before showing Banister laughing off what was essentially a near-death experience. A replay showed an emphatic clap and double fist pump from the Rangers manager – almost an invitation for another frozen rope in his direction.

Lesson No. 2: Hands of steel.

In the fourth inning, we saw our second Banister-bound ball of the evening. Rangers first baseman Ronald Guzman sent a hard chopper toward his fearless leader, who extended his right hand – his dominant hand – into the air and snared the ball before it went hurtling toward the defenseless players in the dugout.

Without so much as a smirk, Banister tossed the ball into the second row of fans, where it made a much friendlier arrival at its destination.

Watch his epic handling of the foul ball below or here.

The Rangers backed their manager's stout dugout performance with a solid one on the field, too, beating the NL West-leading Diamondbacks 5-3.

Banister played in 515 minor league games over seven seasons from 1986-1993. He caught in 351 of them and played first base in 68 more. He also, of course, famously went 1-for-1 at the dish at the major league level for a career 1.000 batting average.

Before You Leave, Check This Out