“Just out of curiousity, how do you feel about a kid catching a ball at a baseball game, later asking the hitter to autograph it, and being told it will cost $30? Valuable lesson learned, or not?”
#92... If the kid catches a ball and then the hitter asks for $30 to autograph it I would encourage the parents to use their eBay app to check out the going rate for this ball in real time. If it low they can discuss with the child whether this player is capable of becoming a player whose autograph would be worth more than $30 in the future or if it is worth $30 to just have the autograph. If not they can politely turn down the offer to have the ball signed for $30.
Next question....
From your response, I’ll take it that you’ve never taken your kid to a baseball game, nor waited outside a gate in hope of seeing a player emerge.
Over the Christmas holiday I was clearing off a table and inadvertently lost one of my 15yr old son’s morgan silver dollars that he was working with. It was totally my fault so I said I would pay to replace it. We went to several coin stores and he was able to replace it for more than it originally cost(silver prices/condition) I never thought to ask the coin stores to replace it for free since it was lost. Now I realize I should have shamed the stores into replacing it for free because it was just a mistake and they need to have a heart about a kids coin collection. Now I realize how heartless these coin store really are.