I wonder what it would have been like if I had actually been able to hold on to the ball. Perhaps I would have held up the ball in triumph to the approval of those sitting around me. Perhaps I would lovingly feel the stitching and examine the blemishes caused by violent contact with hard wood. Perhaps the baseball would still carry the scent of the pitcher's glove. And for the rest of my years it would have been a cherished momento of my only major league game.
Life is strange.
Some people never have a chance for great success because they are at the wrong place at the wrong time. Others are at the right place at the right time, and are able to take advantage of opportunilties, to the approval of all those around them. And some of us seem to be at the right place at the right time, only to see opportunity snatched away. Then we are left, surprised, empty handed, unnoticed.