It might be the greatest sports photograph you’ll ever see. That is subjective, of course, but find a more compelling image than the one of Jo Adell that Kayleigh Kraus snapped with her cellphone Saturday night in Anaheim, Calif.
Adell, the right fielder for the Los Angeles Angels, stands among the crowd in section 134 at Angel Stadium, his left arm thrusting his glove to the sky in triumph. Adell had just stolen a home run, tumbling over the waist-high wall near the right-field foul pole, which frames the left side of the photo.
The lights of the packed ballpark glimmer over him, like a halo. There is no visual clutter — no ads, no scoreboard. It’s mostly just solid colors, adoring fans and an athlete who had just saved the game and wanted everyone to know about it. It is so wholesome, it could be a Rockwell.
“I had nobody in front of me,” said Kraus, a mother of five from Victorville, Calif., “nobody messing my view up.”
What could be better? Muhammad Ali glowering over a fallen Sonny Liston in 1965? Yes, Kraus has heard that comparison already. Neil Leifer, one of the most decorated photographers ever, took the Ali photo for Sports Illustrated. Kraus, who works as a waitress, took photo classes in high school.
“But that was, like, processing film — and I mean, it was 20 years ago,” she said by phone Monday. “That was very different. So maybe (it helped) a little bit when it comes to lighting and putting things in perspective and stuff. But no, nothing, especially not anything digital. Because I didn’t do anything to that picture. I just sent it, just like that.”
Twice in the first eight innings Saturday, Adell reached over the 8-foot wall in right-center field to take away home runs from the Seattle Mariners. Then J.P. Crawford led off the ninth with a deep drive into the corner, and Adell did it again, sprinting 95 feet, leaping on the run and snaring it from the sky. The Angels held on for a 1-0 victory.
In the video, you can see Kraus in a navy Angels sweatshirt, seated at first, then rising with her cellphone. She’s a sports mom. She knows how to get the shot.
“We have a bunch of adult children, and they all played sports,” Kraus said. “I’ve just been used to grabbing my phone as fast as I can to take pictures of them getting goals or baskets or whatever.”
Kraus was there with her husband and their youngest son, Jameson, a 7-year-old who is crazy for baseball. She is a die-hard Angels fan, and though the family has visited about half of the stadiums in MLB, Angel Stadium is home. They try to catch at least one game a week when the Angels are in town.
“It’s just our favorite thing to do, our favorite way to spend a day,” Kraus said. “We just love it. We’re huge sports fans, period, but when it comes to baseball, we just love being there. It’s something about Angel Stadium. It’s so relaxing, so friendly and family-oriented. It’s great.”
The Kraus family usually doesn’t sit down the right-field line. But about an hour before game time on Saturday, they found seats there for $40 apiece and figured they’d have a chance to get a ball. They met that goal — thanks to the ballboy — but had no idea they’d get so much more.
“I (tagged) it on Jo Adell’s Instagram and his wife’s because I was just like, ‘Oh, man, this would be a great picture for them,’” Kraus said. “I didn’t really think anything of it. And then the Angels posted something like, ‘Show us your best pictures from the night,’ so I posted mine. And then I went to bed because by that time, after we all wound down and stuff, it was probably midnight.
“So then, at 6 o’clock in the morning, my husband’s like, ‘Everybody’s posting your picture!’ I’m like, ‘What?’ And I get on my phone, and it was just crazy. Tons of messages, tons of posts.”
Kayleigh Kraus, in the blue shirt next to the foul pole, found herself in the middle of the action during Jo Adell’s final home run robbery of Saturday’s game. (Brian Rothmuller / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
The highlight so far, she said, came from their favorite player, Mike Trout, who replied to an Angels post on X that showed Kraus behind Adell. “Front row seat to the Jo Show !!!”, Trout wrote.
Topps also made a card with a front-facing view of Adell’s catch, with the Kraus family clearly visible. Kraus said she ordered about 20 of those, and she’s been contacted by Topps about possibly using her photo.
“I’m kind of overwhelmed,” she said. “I’m a little nervous to talk to any of these people.”
Kraus did speak with The Athletic after work Monday, then politely excused herself for another baseball game: Jameson’s. Soon enough, the family will be back in Anaheim, where she captured an image so indelibly, it could make anyone believe in their better Angels.
“We do get a lot of hate, because everybody loves the Dodgers in California because they win,” she said. “I’m like, ‘One day we’ll be winning, and you guys can’t jump on our wagon.’”