Lucky enough to catch the ball? Keep it!
Posted: Tuesday, August 07, 2007 11:54 PM
Two historic baseballs left the playing field in a space of four days. Alex Rodriguez’ 500th at Yankee Stadium on Saturday and Barry Bonds’ record-breaking 756th on Tuesday. Both players would probably like to have the baseballs back. And they should have them – if they’re willing to pay hard cash.
We know more about A-Rod’s ball. That was caught by Walter Kowalczyk, of Trenton, N.J., who is thinking about law school and who doesn’t have a lot of money. The Yankees offered him a bunch of signed memorabilia in return for the ball, but Kowalczyk’s no fool. He’s hanging on to it and weighing his options. Sure, signed jerseys from Derek Jeter and Roger Clemens and who knows who else are swell souvenirs, but the ball could be worth $100,000, which goes a long way toward paying law-school tuition. And while the Yankees were offering signed stuff that costs the team very little, neither the team nor A-Rod were offering actual cash.
It was a similar deal for Phil Ozersky, the lucky man who caught Mark McGwire’s 70th and final home run of the 1998 season and sold it for $3 million. Neither McGwire nor the team offered that kind of money, so he put it up for auction. Ozersky was vilified in the local media and by other fans in St. Louis who thought he was being greedy and should have given the ball back to McGwire.
Silly, weren’t they?
When was the last time a superstar volunteered to take less money to stay with the home team and maybe help keep ticket prices down? All we hear from them is how they have to take care of their families. Well, fans have families, too. Who’s taking care of them?
Ever hear of Sal Durante? He was the lucky 19-year-old kid who caught Roger Maris’ record-breaking 61st home run in Yankee Stadium in 1961. Durante offered the ball to Maris.
“No, kid,” Maris told him. “Keep the ball and make yourself some money.”
Durante got $5,000 from Sam Gordon, a California restaurateur, plus a honeymoon trip to California. In 1961, that was a year’s income. But Maris’ advice is classic. Can you imagine a player saying that today?
Can you, for that matter, imagine A-Rod calling up Kowalczyk and offering a hundred grand? A-Rod could find that in the seat cushions of his couch, but instead he’s hoping Kowalczyk will just hand the ball over.
Whoever won the free-for-all for Bonds’ ball came out bloody. I kind of doubt he’ll want to hand the ball to Barry. Nor should he. If you win the lottery, you don’t hand the ticket back to the clerk who sold it to you. It’s the same with baseballs. You catch them, you keep them.
And then you sell them, because, like the jocks always say, you have to think about your family.
