Kid Glove Treatment

He was back at Yankee Stadium on Thursday, autographing baseballs thrown to him by fans, hearing them chant his name, surrounded by television cameras.

What next?

A plaque next to those of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in Monument Park in center field?

“I’m not the real celebrity,” insisted Jeffrey Maier. “The nine Yankees who go out there every day and the players on the bench, they’re the real celebrities.”

Perhaps, but this 12 1/2-year-old bleacher boy who stole the spotlight and produced the most bizarre and pivotal moment in Game 1 of the American League championship series Wednesday continued to stretch his 15 minutes of fame Thursday.

Or as Baltimore Oriole pitcher Mike Mussina said:

“Let’s see. The kid’s on TV this morning. He’s going to be on Letterman. . . . His 15 minutes of fame is turning into two weeks.”

Well, to be fair, Maier rejected taping “Late Show With David Letterman” so he and his family could attend Game 2 of the championship series between the Orioles and New York Yankees as guests of the New York Daily News.

A second consecutive day of missed classes at Charles Dewolf Elementary School in Old Tappan, N.J.

“Is he flunking English?” a reporter asked Jeff’s father, Dick, a software salesman, at Yankee Stadium on Thursday.

“No, he gets straight A’s,” Maier answered.

Yankee fans seemed to think he was valedictorian of Game 1 when Maier did what any kid would do when a souvenir baseball was headed his way in the eighth inning.

He reached over the fence in right field and deflected it, just as Oriole right fielder Tony Tarasco prepared to make the catch.

Umpire Richie Garcia, who later admitted he made a mistake, did not call interference. The Yankees’ Derek Jeter was credited with a home run that tied the game, 4-4, and the Yankees went on to win in the 11th inning, 5-4.

It was one of the most controversial and memorable moments in playoff history, and the glorification of the incident troubled many.

Said Richard Cerrone, the Yankees’ director of media relations:

“The Yankees have had no contact with the young man. His father called our PR department this morning, and I made it very clear to him that, in our view, even though the umpire didn’t rule that, he likely interfered with the ball in play, and obviously there was nothing the Yankees could or should do to reward or condone that type of behavior.”

Said Baltimore Manager Davey Johnson, who protested the game because security failed to prevent fans from entering an aisle area in front of the first row of bleacher seats:

“The way that kid got through security, he’ll probably be a heck of a center fielder. I’m sure there’ll be a lot of kids hanging over the fence with their gloves when we return to Camden Yards [tonight].”

Maier got up at 5:30 to appear on the “Good Morning America” and “Regis & Kathie Lee” shows. He held a news conference at the All-Star Cafe on Broadway. The Daily News provided a limousine and a suite at Yankee Stadium.

“I was just hoping to get the ball,” Maier said. “I never thought anything like this would happen. I wasn’t trying to create problems. My friends are telling me I did a great thing, and I’ll go with that.”

Johnson understood the youngster’s emotions.

“I think it’s great,” he said. “I remember when I was 12 and caught a baseball in spring training. It was quite a thrill. I don’t know if the kid will ever live up to the moment.”

Maier’s father, a lifelong Yankee fan who idolized Mickey Mantle, said he almost drove off the road when he heard his son’s name mentioned on the Game 1 broadcast while returning from work. “All of this is great for a while, but then we should go back to being ourselves again,” Dick Maier said at the stadium.

Added Yankee Manager Joe Torre: “I’m not saying that if I wasn’t a 12-year-old kid I’d be anxious to do the same thing . . . but to glorify what he did, I don’t think it’s the right message to send.”

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Times Staff Writer Mike DiGiovanna contributed to this story.