NEW YORK — In the end, Andrew Fox wasn’t charged with an error.
The 29-year-old had everything he needed to make one of life’s biggest decisions on Tuesday night: the engagement ring, the perfect woman and a beautiful early autumn night at Yankee Stadium, which focused a camera on the couple and broadcast the big moment on the center field video board.
What the New Castle, Pennsylvania, resident didn’t have was steady hands.
When Fox pulled the precious item from his pocket and dropped to one knee before girlfriend Heather Terwilliger to propose during the middle of the fifth inning, the ring fell to the ground in the second row of section 228 in the ballpark’s second deck.
The crowd gasped and then jeered the fumble. Fox and Terwilliger scrambled to find the jewelry, and the search was televised between pitches by the Yankees’ YES Network. The hunt under the chairs went on for nearly five tense minutes. Finally, Terwilliger looked down and saw something shiny in the cuff of her pants leg — earning a save. The crowd of 35,161 roared.
Fox sank to a knee again to present the ring. The 29-year-old Terwilliger, who is from Fredonia, New York, said yes, then gave him a long kiss and a hug.