OT : Marlins rookie pays fan 'ransom' for HR ball

[Lokee]

MILWAUKEE (AP) - The joy Florida Marlins rookie Chris Coghlan felt after hitting his first major league home run was tempered slightly by the hardball negotiations he went through to reclaim the souvenir.
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Coghlan's home run was caught Wednesday night by a Milwaukee Brewers fan who refers to himself as "The Happy Youngster" and claims on his blog to have caught nearly 50 homers.
And while Coghlan said the fan was willing to give the ball back, the man's original asking price was a lot higher than the Marlins rookie outfielder anticipated.
"He wasn't the most polite or respectful guy about the whole process," Coghlan said Thursday. "He told me he goes around a lot and catches these balls and holds them for ransom — even though he doesn't say that he does, it seems that way."
But the fan, Nick Yohanek, insisted Coghlan could have been more respectful to him.
"I explained that ballhawking is my hobby and that what I was asking in return was fair," Yohanek said Thursday, in an e-mail to The Associated Press. "I told him I make $50,000 a year working in law enforcement and that I didn't feel like I was asking for too much. He responded, 'Good for you.' Real classy. Way to respect law enforcement. Way to respect a fan."


Players who achieve personal milestones often want to keep the ball as a souvenir, and in all but the most high-profile cases — such as a record-setting home run ball that might fetch big money at an auction — it has become standard practice for the player to give the fan who caught it a souvenir such as a signed bat in return.

Coghlan said he gave the fan a signed bat and took a photo with him after Wednesday's game. As Coghlan discovered, that only seemed like a starting point for further negotiations.
"Then he wanted other things that I didn't think (were) fair," Coghlan said.
Coghlan said the fan also asked for tickets to one of the Marlins' upcoming games against the New York Yankees, along with a ball and signed bat from Coghlan's more famous Marlins teammate, Hanley Ramirez.
"I was trying to be as nice and respectful as I could," Coghlan said. "But I told him he could only get one."
Yohanek, who says he has caught a total of 49 home runs, offered a significantly different version of the episode.
Yohanek said his negotiations for the ball began with several members of the Marlins' staff — and after his request for a Ramirez bat was turned down, he requested tickets not for the Yankees series, but for a Brewers-Marlins series at Florida in June.
"I had wanted to attend this series anyway," Yohanek said. "Considering (Marlins) attendance is barely over 15,000 nightly, I didn't feel like this was too much to ask."
Yohanek said he eventually handed over the ball for the promise of tickets to the Brewers-Marlins series, a bat with the inscription "To Nick, thanks for catching my 1st home run," and a photo with Coghlan.
"While posing for the photo, he said, 'You gonna give me the ball, man, or what?"' Yohanek said. "After he was given the home run ball, he stormed off without a word. Only to return and say, 'Why y'all gotta hold my ball for ransom?' I hold balls for ransom? Those are Chris Coghlan's words, not mine."

[Lokee]

didn't really come out here is the link

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/9...n-%27ransom%27

I thought it was very interesting.

[eisenreich8]

Shameful behavior from the fan.

[buc]

He is a member of this forum, but don't know when he last posted.

[orioles03]

i had to get two homeruns back from fans before the first one was in 2003 jose morban hit his first hr which was his first career hit the fan wanted autographed bats of 4 players so we gave him the bats and the guy gave him the ball

the second one was jeremy reed of the mariners he hit his first homerun i think it hit off the foulpole the ball girl gave it to a kid in the first row .the hitting coach told me at the end of the game that the ball was his first homerun so at the end of the game i ran down to where the guy was sitting i told him he would like to talk to him .the guy said all he wants is another ball so i had the guy come to the visitors dugout they gave him a box of used b.p. balls that were used the guy was hapy

[mbrieve]

The fans side of the story:

http://thehappyyoungster.mlblogs.com/

[commando]

As much as I would love to hate the fan, this whole event really seems like a non-issue. Based on the headline, I thought that maybe the fan was asking for a bunch of cash or tons of equipment. But actually, I think the fan's request was reasonable except for the Hanley Ramirez bat (Hanley is the only person who has the right to give away his own equipment).

[BorchertField]

The fans side of the story:

http://thehappyyoungster.mlblogs.com/

He still comes off like a bit of a jerk.

[godwulf]

To my way of thinking, asking for some other player's bat may not be all that unreasonable...but it's just about as rude as you can get, and I, personally, would never do it. If you want a Hanley Ramirez bat, catch a ball off of one that Hanley wants back. The other is just embarrassing.

[Vintagedeputy]

We may never know which side is telling the truth but I find it hard to believe that a rookie ballplayer would be so rude to a fan who caught his first HR ball, unless he was provoked in some manner.