Michael Faretta has always had a charmed relationship with his beloved Dodgers. When the Santa Clarita man attends games, he says the team almost always wins.
And the good fortune flows the other way. Several years ago, on his 23rd birthday, he and his friend won $26,000 in a Dodger gameday raffle.
On his 24th birthday, he caught a ball thrown into the bleachers by former infielder Justin Turner.
The serendipity doesn't stop there. Last month, during one of the last games of the regular season, Faretta caught three balls thrown between innings — a pretty surprising feat in a stadium with more than 50,000 people.
But maybe this was the coolest part: Faretta gave them all away.
I know this because my kids got one of the balls.
"I thought I had good luck that day," said Faretta, who works on studio lots, painting sets. "I gave them to those kids and your kids, and they looked so happy."
Origin story
I sat out the Sept. 22 game between the Dodgers and the Colorado Rockies because prices had surged in the buildup to Shohei Ohtani joining the 50-50 club.
How I wish I’d gone. Not only did Dodgers win on back-to-back homers from Mookie Betts and Shohei Ohtani, I missed out on something even more awesome.
My six-year-old son came home holding a scuffed-up ball, with dirt stains and bubbling over with excitement about this thing this guy Michael did for them.
They were of course talking about Faretta, who had been sitting by them in the first row in left-center field with his long-time girlfriend Sara David. Faretta was hoping to catch an Ohtani home-run ball.
"I told her, if any [other player] threw me a ball, I was going to give it to a kid around me," the 26-year-old Faretta said.
Faretta said this mission stems back to his childhood. He was about 10 when he went to a Dodgers game with his dad. He thinks they were playing against either the San Diego Padres or the Pittsburgh Pirates, when a ball came flying his way.
"I went and leaned over to get it, and an adult came, pushed me out of the way, took the ball from me," Faretta said. "Everyone started booing him. I was so sad. I was crying."
The tears did not do anything to sway the ball bandit.
"Every time we go to Dodger Stadium, he tells that story," David, his girlfriend, said. "He's like 'l'll never forget when that man took the ball out of my hand."
When they go together to Dodgers games, she carries his glove in her clear Dodgers bag for him. "He's so motivated to catch another ball," she said.
The catches
Standing at 6'3, with reflexes honed by years of Little League and club baseball when he was younger, Faretta is well-equipped to make catches at the ballpark. He almost snagged a home run ball from Betts that bounced off his finger so hard it started to bleed.
But catching three balls in one game?
"I'm still trying to wrap my head around that," Faretta said.
The first ball Faretta caught that game a couple weeks ago was one Dodgers center fielder Tommy Edman had thrown into the stands. Without hesitation, Faretta gave it a kid nearby.
A couple of innings later, Edman again threw another warm-up ball into the stands and my husband reached out with both hands to get it. But Faretta extended farther and got the ball, this time handing it over to my son.
Later in the game, the Rockies center fielder threw another ball in their direction. Faretta again reached out and caught it, and gave this one to a third kid who was in the row behind.
At this point, no one seated near Faretta could believe his luck.
"The people sitting in front of us, they thought that I was paying the players to throw the balls to me, which I thought was funny," Faretta said.
A "priceless" feeling
Those who know Faretta well aren't at all surprised that he wouldn't even keep a ball for himself. He's been known to share whatever bounty he has.
Remember when he won the Dodgers raffle? He and his fellow ticket-holding friend split their winnings with two other buddies who were at the game with them.
His dad, Mike Faretta who also works on sets as a painter, says his son has always been good-hearted and thoughtful, making sure to check in on his Italian immigrant grandparents who live nearby.
"He's everything you could want in a son," his dad said. "He's generous, very giving."
Compare that to the behavior on display in viral videos of grown-ups wrenching foul balls away from kids.
Faretta is only half-joking when he says he wants to start a movement where adults relinquish caught balls to kids.
"That kid's going to remember it forever," Faretta said. "You're going to create a lifelong fan."
And he says you’ll feel happier for it, too.
"I was able to be the first time for someone to get their ball, and seeing the smile on their faces was the priceless to me," Faretta said.
Faretta will test his good luck again Sunday, when he returns to Dodger Stadium for Game 2 of the postseason matchup between the Dodgers and the Padres.
