Posted on 09/26/2009 7:53:07 AM PDT by jilliane
Big League Stew Thu Sep 24, 2009 3:17 pm EDT
Matt Carson will not pay $10,000 for his first big league homer By 'Duk
You thought that Milwaukee's Happy Youngster drove an unreasonable bargain for Chris Coghlan's(notes) first home run ball earlier this season?
Well, then be prepared to be even more disgusted after reading about the jerk who caught Matt Carson's(notes) first big league home run in Oakland on Monday and then said he'd only return it to the rookie in exchange for some cold, hard cash.
(Excerpt) Read more at sports.yahoo.com ...
Alex Avila hit his first big league homer with the Tigers this year. He didn’t expect to see it again but when he got back to the locker room it was there with his things.
I have no problem with a fan asking for hard cash, and lots of it.
With today’s wealthy professional players, he can afford it.
Good article in the WSJ this summer about so-called “ball hawks.” A couple weeks later a very nice letter to the editor appeared by the son of a former player (Dick Hall (?)). He said that a carpenter or some tradesman caught his dad’s first homer. The carpenter and his friends built a beautiful wood display case for the ball and returned to a later game and presented it to the player during batting practice.
The letter said that this was his father’s most treasured momento from his career, which included winning the world series.
The fan can’t prove the ball he’s holding is the ball in question. Its hard to prove now, and will even be harder a few months or years down the line.
And even if it is, what makes a used baseball worth $10000?
Maybe that “jerk” has to work 500 hours or more to earn $10,000. How long does it take the ball player to earn $10k? The guy caught the ball and it’s his to do with as he pleases.
A 28 year old who just hit his first big league homer isn’t rich. This guy has spent most of his adult life in the low end of the minors lucky to make basic middle class wages.
THAT is a great story.
Probably takes the guy around a 1/4 of the season to make that much. This isn’t one of the big name players making a million buck on every at bat here. This guy is a career minor leaguer who finally got called up in his 7th season and is probably headed right back to the minors the second the guy he replaced is healthy.
Agree...unfortunately the fans are confused because of the extreme lifestyles so many of the players enjoy
Exactly, to the penny, EXACTLY WHAT SOMEONE WILL PAY FOR IT.
Yeah, I agree, soak the rich. Rich people are horrible and should be jailed. I’m sick of free America where people can get ahead on their talents and hard work, I want one where everyone makes the same as everyone else, lives in the same kind of house and drives the same kind of car. I’m all for equality.
Yup, the class warrior folks all forget that every top star in the bigs represents half a dozen non-top stars in the bigs and a dozen to 2 dozen guys that are never getting near the bigs. Guys like Cason are going to spend their life in the minors making roughly middle class wages until nobody will take them anymore then they’re going to have to join the regular suit and tie work force only they’ll be 15 years behind the wage curve. The only way Cason is ever even going to see Jeeter money is if he gets a job in a bank, forget making Jeeter money.
How much money do those guys make? Hell yea, I asking a BUNDLE for the ball. Supply and demand, whatever the market will bare....
And nobody is going to pay 10 grand for the first home run of a guy that needed until the end of his 7th season as a pro to finally make it to the bigs. The only way he’s ever getting into the Hall is paying at the door, it’s just another homer by just another scrub.
He probably makes less than you. The market isn’t going to bear more than $5 for this ball.
Uhm, there was also a time when the crappiest player on the team didn’t make 20 times what the average family of 4 makes in the same time.
I think most folks would just give him the ball. Souvenir balls are nice but unless it was also your first big league game the ball has more sentimental value for him than anybody else. But the “fan” is almost definitely a ball hawk, just looking to make cash.
That would be right now today. Especially in baseball with its rather substantial minor league system. There’s some layers in the minor league system where the guy hawking peanuts in the stands is making about the same money as the players.
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