We all have seen the scrambles and disputes over coveted home runs between fans over high-dollar homers from the likes of Bonds, A-Rod, McGwire and Sosa.
That's not what I'm talking about here.
My curiousity is about less heralded but still desirable milestone home runs...such as the Cardinals' Steven Hill, who hit his first yesterday, or the 300th HRs hit in the last two seasons by Derrek Lee, Paul Konerko and Jermaine Dye. In a situation like this, where the ball isn't gonna make you independently wealthy, but it's desirable enough that the player wants it back, what would you do?
In my own case, I have no one answer. My response would depend on who hit it and wants it back.
If it were a Cubs or White Sox player, a rookie, or a player I really liked, I'd probably make it easy on him (inscribed and signed bat and ball).
For a player, I'm ambivalent about, I'd probably turn it up a notch and seek a GU or GI jersey.
For a major, high-earning superstar (Man-Ram, Chipper Jones), I'd try for a payment that would equal one year's rent for the apartment my family and I reside in. If that fails, I'd probably consider the GU/GI jersey as plan B.
If it were a player who cheated me or treated me poorly on a memorabilia request/swap (Jason Giambi, Tim Redding or Matt Stairs), or if it were a player who just treated me poorly as a collecting fan in general (in my case, A-Rod or Jim Thome), I'd be on the phone to either Steve Mears or Huggins & Scott before the guy finished rounding the bases).
How would you deal with a moment like that?
Dave Miedema
That's not what I'm talking about here.
My curiousity is about less heralded but still desirable milestone home runs...such as the Cardinals' Steven Hill, who hit his first yesterday, or the 300th HRs hit in the last two seasons by Derrek Lee, Paul Konerko and Jermaine Dye. In a situation like this, where the ball isn't gonna make you independently wealthy, but it's desirable enough that the player wants it back, what would you do?
In my own case, I have no one answer. My response would depend on who hit it and wants it back.
If it were a Cubs or White Sox player, a rookie, or a player I really liked, I'd probably make it easy on him (inscribed and signed bat and ball).
For a player, I'm ambivalent about, I'd probably turn it up a notch and seek a GU or GI jersey.
For a major, high-earning superstar (Man-Ram, Chipper Jones), I'd try for a payment that would equal one year's rent for the apartment my family and I reside in. If that fails, I'd probably consider the GU/GI jersey as plan B.
If it were a player who cheated me or treated me poorly on a memorabilia request/swap (Jason Giambi, Tim Redding or Matt Stairs), or if it were a player who just treated me poorly as a collecting fan in general (in my case, A-Rod or Jim Thome), I'd be on the phone to either Steve Mears or Huggins & Scott before the guy finished rounding the bases).
How would you deal with a moment like that?
Dave Miedema
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