Ethan Flahery
Westfield – High School sophomore Ethan Flaherty, son of At-large Councilor David Flaherty, has broken the world record of how many baseballs he can hold in one hand. According to his father, Ethan broke the record last Saturday by holding 14 baseballs in his right hand. The feat was captured on video and sent to recordsetter.com, where it was confirmed that he was indeed the new world record holder.
Then on Sunday night, David Flaherty said Ethan broke his own record again by holding 15 baseballs in his hand. This video is awaiting confirmation from the site. Flaherty said Ethan has since already held 16 in his hand, but that was not yet filmed. “By the end of the summer, he’ll probably have 17,” David Flaherty said.
Ethan Flaherty, 15, is finishing his sophomore year at Westfield School. He is a pitcher on the junior varsity at the school, and plays first base for his Babe Ruth team, sponsored by Westfield Bank. Besides playing baseball, Flaherty is a runner and a skier, and working towards his Eagle Scout rank.
David Flaherty said the Record Setter site is similar to Guiness, which doesn’t happen to have that particular record on it. He said that Ethan looked it up to see what the record was, and learned that he had it. He said he does it by putting seven balls on the first layer in his hand, and then adds two more layers in a pyramid.
“It’s not as easy as it looks,” Flaherty said about his son’s accomplishment.
