The Recent Boom in Selling Milestone Home Run Balls for CA$H - Am I responsible for this??

Recently I was asked about selling home run balls. Actually the reporter, who is working on a story, asked me if I felt responsible for the boom in fans selling home run balls for cash.

For a minute or two I looked at him like he was crazy. How can he ask me if I was responsible for this? He then pointed out that when I caught Sosa's 61st Home Run on September 13th, 1998 is pretty much when the recent boom in selling Milestone Homers' began.

I though he was crazy and then I looked back. Tim Forneris, St. Louis Groundscrew guy, got McGwire's 62nd home run ball in 1998 he returned it. Deni Allen caught McGwire's 60th home run that year and he also returned it. Allen did get to take BP with the Cardinals but still no cash.

A few of Sosa's early home run balls were also returned for memorabilia or tickets or just the chane to meet him.

Then came September 13th, 2008 when Sammy Sosa hit his 61st and 62nd Home Runs. I will save the story about getting the ball etc for early September as the 10th anniversary of getting the ball is coming up. Anyway, Sosa hits #61 in the 5th inning off of Bronswell Patrick and it literally rolls right to my feet. I pick it up and the Chicago Ballhawks shove me into Moe Mullins' van for safety.

Shortly thereafter local sports memorabilia guru Dave Miedema tells me that another sports collector wants to buy the ball for $10,000.  Are you kidding me?? So I head up to the firehouse to the payphone and Dave and I call him. As I am talking to him there are a couple of reporters right there listening in on the conversation. In the newspapers the next day there it was ...... Sosa's 61st HR sells for $10,000.

The only problem was Sosa hit #62 later in the game and the guy that bought 61 from me had a message on his answering machine from the guy that ripped it out of Moe's hands. He wants to sell it!! So now they don't know what it might be worth. There wasn't really any hesitation on my part to sell the ball even when they offered me $7,500 because I had gone to the game with only $8 in my pocket. Better than that I didn't have to pay for a ticket of for parking!

A couple days later I was in St. Louis when McGwire hit #63. When John Grass ended up with the ball he immediately proclaimed that he was going to sell it to the highest bidder! We all know that there was a bounty of $1,000,000 dollars on the last home run he hit but would someone give the ball up for that? Obviously they did when it sold for over $3,000,000.

So I guess I am responsible for the boom in selling milestone home run balls and possibly even a little resonsible for the sports memorabilia craze that has captured baseball fans since 1998!!

Who would have thunk it!! Yes I know people have sold balls before 1998 but the recent boom started right after I sold #61!

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