Big League Stew Thu Sep 24, 2009 3:17 pm EDT

 

Matt Carson will not pay $10,000 for his first big league homer

By 'Duk

 

You thought that Milwaukee's Happy Youngster drove an unreasonable bargain for Chris Coghlan's(notes) first home run ball earlier this season?

 

Well, then be prepared to be even more disgusted after reading about the jerk who caught Matt Carson's(notes) first big league home run in Oakland on Monday and then said he'd only return it to the rookie in exchange for some cold, hard cash.

 

The fan's rumored demand for the ball?

 

Try $10,000, an outrageous amount that the career minor leaguer simply wouldn't — and most likely, couldn't — pay.

 

From the SF Chronicle:

 

"Kind of a bummer," Carson said. "They authenticated the bat I used, though, so I'll do something with that.

 

"It would have been nice to have the ball, and I would have been happy to give him a bat and signed it — that's more than a baseball, anyway. But that's OK, I have a souvenir, I'm happy."

 

I don't begrudge fans going for the dollars when we're talking about big amounts of money — say, Bonds' 756th or McGwire's 70th — but Carson is a 28-year-old right fielder who took seven years to reach the bigs and probably isn't headed to the Hall of Fame.

 

Honestly, the ball isn't worth $10,000 to anyone and, heck, it probably isn't worth $1,000. Really, the keepsake's only value comes in any sentiment Carson might have toward it and after working so hard to reach his dream of making the big leagues, it's a ball he certainly deserved to have after giving its recipient the traditional payment of some other memorabilia, an autograph and a handshake.

 

Here's hoping that "fan" comes to his senses and realizes the ball means a lot more to Carson than to his money-minded self.

 

 

Go Sox!

personally, if I was fortunate enough to catch say Tyler Flowers first HR ball, I'd ask to trade it for 2 Season Tickets to the next season, even if it was in the Upper Deck.

Well there is the definition of asshole

What a dick. This is a moment that this kid will remember for the rest of his life, and some random person wants to be greedy for no other reason than they can.

What an asshole! Seriously, this guy must have underwent some serious asshole training by a well-disrespected professor or asshology in order to come up with an assholonic idea like that.

Eventually the guy will throw the ball away. What a shame.

The guy should have hit his first home run at home in front of the home fans

I hope Matt Carson uses his authenticated bat to hit a second homer...but this time using that guys head.