Fair of foul? That's all 16-year-old Dan Strong was thinking about as he sat in the upper deck along the base line when Stingers slugger Scott Morgan drove a pitch over the left field wall during Salt Lake's 7-1 win over Omaha Saturday at Franklin Covey Field.
Fortunately for the Bountiful High junior, the ball landed well into fair territory, bounced off the outfield berm and rolled onto Main Street. The seventh-inning grand slam netted Strong a cool $10,000 payday, a part of a season-long promotion sponsored by Morgan Stanley.
"When he ripped it we were kind of in shock," said Strong, who attended the game with his father and brothers Adam, 15, and Sam, 10. "We still are."
Strong, who has attended 10-15 Stingers games this season, always makes a point of entering the contest when he arrives at the stadium. The secured promotion involves a blind draw of entrants and promises the cash award to the winner should a Salt Lake batter hit a grand slam in the bottom of the seventh. Through 65 games it had never happened.
Even so, Strong felt there was nobody better than Morgan to help end the drought. The leftfielder has now hit 28 homers this season, including a pair of dramatic game-winning shots.
"It's exciting," said Morgan. "When stuff like this happens, that's great. I'm just doing my job up there."
Morgan is happy for Strong and hopes the teen spends the money wisely.
While Strong initially thought about buying his younger brother a car, so the siblings wouldn't have to share one, Dad has a different plan.
"Apparently college," grinned Strong.
Before the game ended, Dan's father found Morgan's wife in the crowd and asked that she pass along a thank you to her husband.
E-mail: dirk@desnews.com