You guys wouldn't know anything about this, would you?

[34swtns]

"Ballhawks" story today on MSN:

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/9...runs?GT1=39002

[both-teams-played-hard]

Quote from Junior: "Sometimes when they catch a valuable ball, the money is the important thing," said Griffey.

Sorta like when it is time to sign a new contract?
Power to the ballhawks! Make 'em squirm.

[godwulf]

But when the fan who caught Dunn's 300th home run last week offered it back to the slugger for free, Dunn gave him a signed jersey, three signed balls and tickets for later games.

That sounds like Adam.

I sort of think of homerun balls as falling into three loose categories:

Balls that establish an important, Major League record of some kind; with hundreds of thousands, or even millions of dollars on the line, everybody should just assume that those balls are leaving the park for an auction house.

Milestone balls hit by a major "superstar", like Griffey, ARod or Jeter; the Big Boys ought to have the sense to know that everything they touch, somebody (namely one of us collectors) is going to pay a lot of money for. They ought to look at it realistically and be prepared to part with a pile of stuff - 'cause if they don't, there are plenty of folks just waiting to plunk down the rent money for it. A jersey and a couple of bats? What are we talking about, a couple of hundred dollars? With some of these guys, it's like they know very well how famous they are, until it comes to something like this, and then they're surprised that one of their milestone balls is actually valuable?

Milestone balls hit by anybody else; an iffy area, in my opinion. The guy with the ball should remember that this ball is probably only really important to the guy who hit it. How much he's willing to part with will vary, 'cause players are all different when it comes to that. Asking for a bat and a signed ball should be, I think, pretty well standard, and shouldn't surprise or dismay anybody. Beyond that, it should be a matter of the catchee very politely feeling out the player on what he's willing to offer in trade. Young players should be made aware that this is probably going to happen and not get surly or resentful about it. The player should keep in mind that, even if he's a rookie earning League minimum, he's probably making at least five to ten times what the other guy makes for a living, and not get stingy when it comes to parting with a little equipment that he might have to replace (at cost). If he doesn't care about owning the ball - fine; if he does, he should grin, bite the bullet, and shell out what's probably less than the monetary equivalent of what he pays to have his car detailed a couple of times.

[suicide_squeeze]

The first two comments posted after that story (at the end of the article) pretty much says it all.

Ballhawks, lucky catchers of a special homerun ball, or whatever you care to call them, have the right to do as they will in obtaining whatever they feel is just for the ball. To anyone else who doesn't like that? Too bad.

These fans payed to get into the game, they did their research.....if they are lucky enough to be in the right place, well good for them. The owners and ballplayers are filthy rich, so too bad if they don't want to ante-up for the ball they want.

I ballhawk on occasion, and am always offering up a wad of cash if there is one caught by someone else that I am after if. That's just the way it is. I have yet to be at the end of falling rainbow that I was after.....it's a hard thing to do, people. Anyone who does catch one.....man, that's luck.

The next time you see a mornic fan throw back a ball hit into the seats because the fans around them are yelling "Throw it BACK!!".....just remember that that ball has some kind of meaning to someone, and they just threw a wad of cash in the lit fireplace.

[suicide_squeeze]

payed = paid.....that's what happens when you are typing fast and in mid-thought.

[godwulf]

The next time you see a mornic fan throw back a ball hit into the seats because the fans around them are yelling "Throw it BACK!!".....just remember that that ball has some kind of meaning to someone, and they just threw a wad of cash in the lit fireplace.

I heard somewhere that this "tradition" began in Chicago, years ago...dunno if that's true, but it seems to have spread nearly everywhere, and it's incredibly stupid, in my view. Yeah, I know, they're "making a statement"...but catching and having a home run ball is just cool, and cool, in this case, rules.

Of course I've also heard stories about the ball actually being thrown back onto the field turning out to be an old practice ball, or a Little League ball, something like that, which speaks to the preparedness of some people, I guess.

When my team is playing out of town, and I see one of my favorite players' home run balls being thrown back, I always imagine myself out in the stands, hurriedly offering up one or more twenties to the catchee. Sure, it would get you booed, but that's okay, too.

[grenda12]

Interesting topic.

[David]

Players often charge fans way above market prices for their signature on a ball (Griffy had/has a contract with UDA, say no more), so it is rather rich when the same players complain about being overcharged by a fan for a baseball.

[David]

It would be the ultimate in Karma if Scott Boras started offering negotiation services to fans who catch home run balls. Would players complain that "Boras demands are totally unreasonable" and "All he cares about is money."

[sox83cubs84]

The idiotic practice of "Throw It Back" did, indeed, begin at Wrigley Field in the 1980s, and has grown to the point of it being a borderline personal safety risk for bleacher fans who don't want to go along with the idiocy.

Since I began Ballhawking in 1991, I have seen a "9+" female pelted with garbage; two older men badly intimidated by the chanting crowd; a semi-regular Wrigley Hawk literally chased out of the bleachers, and kids having legitimately-earned home runs snatched out of their hands and thrown back by adult drunks, all to enforce "honoring the tradition".

In 1994, a fan was tossed from the bleachers during the 7th inning stretch for pouring his deceased grandfather's ashes onto the warning track. I fired off a letter to the Cubs, asking why pretty much harmless ashes were a cause for ejection, but not whipping back home run baseballs, far more likely to cause injury? The first letter was ignored; I sent a second, stronger-worded one and finally got a reply from the security boss, Mike Hill. His explanation; that the home run baseballs being thown onto the field (technically cause for ejection) were ignored because the players expected them to be thrown back, and were alert for them...i.e., a typical non-answer. Hill is still the security boss, and, 15 years later, I am still on his fan S**t List for daring to question the team's policies.

The Cubs care only about the money-hemmorhaging fans (season-ticket holders and premium seat buyers) and the frat boy bleacher drunks...other fans are of little or no worth to them, and they market accordingly. Most of this started when John McDonough (now Blackhawks team president) was the Cubs marketing director. Many fan-unfriendly policies were implemented during his time there...he got away with them because the local media kisses his AQQ in the same manner that the networks and newspapers kiss Barack Obama's.

I'm waiting for the day when a fan who declines to "honor the tradition" is physically attacked by the drunken morons in the bleachers and sues the team and its security force for gross negligence. The prospect of this is not an "if"...it's a "when", and when it occurs, the Cubs will deserve every black eye and flesh wound to it's PR image that it receives.

Dave Miedema
Chicago area