At a University of South Carolina baseball game around mid-season, I saw that a middle-aged man had bought a HR ball, just hit by a gamecock, for $20. He bought it from a boy aged about 10 or 11. The boy's parents weren't around, as this occurred on the wrap-around concourse at the gamecocks' new stadium. People can walk around that concourse and see the game from any angle, including the outfield, so HR balls are readily caught out there.

Usually there's a gang of kids everywhere, so adults have little chance for balls hit on the concourse. But I wonder about the ethics of buying from a kid. Does he understand the true value of a potential life-long memory? Does he feel uncomfortable saying "no" to an adult?

The issue became more significant when the gamecocks won the College World Series with a spectacular NCAA run, though nobody could have predicted that at the time of this mid-season game. Opinions?