Tag: foul ball

Focusing on the relatively worthless ball, itself, is beside the point. Rather, it’s bringing it home and proudly displaying it on our mantelpiece as a memory-triggering device that constitutes the value. It’s this process that transforms a valueless ball into a priceless artifact.

While I have no issue with any fan who wants to surrender their hard-won foul ball to a kid or anyone else, I find the social enforcement of this newfangled tradition unsettling, telling, and sad.  And I want to explain – right now, so there will be no misunderstanding later – why I’m never giving your kid the ball I catch no matter what.