Rant #2,980: Maybe I'm Amazed

Well, no Aaron Judge homers last night, but the Yankees have 15 more games left during the regular season, so there is plenty of time for him to hit more.
 
The New York Post had a story alluding to what I said yesterday, that those home run balls will be worth plenty of money—
 
So much money, in fact, that word is that the Yankees have placed some minions—team employees--in specific places in the Stadium where he might hit those homers, and if they can get those balls, there won’t be any argument or negotiations or debate about who will get those balls—the Yankees will.
 
Of course, the best-case scenario is that Judge hits the homers where no fans can get them—into the hitter’s eye in dead centerfield and into the two bullpens—and then the balls will go to the home team, by default.
 
The person who caught the 60th home run ball was just your average 20-year-old baseball fan, who was there taking in the game with his friends, and there was no negotiation at all—he simply swapped the ball for a face-to-face meeting with Judge and a few signed bats and balls.
 
That is it—but you can bet the ranch that the people who get the 61st and 62nd balls won’t be so gracious.
 
Economics of the current time tell you that that will simply not be possible.
 
When Sal Gallante caught Roger Maris’s 61st homer 61 years ago in 1961, he kept it for a short time and had his 15 minutes of fame.
 
He subsequently sold it to a restaurant owner for $5,000, which in today’s money is about $46,779 adjusted for inflation, according to The Dollar Times (https://www.dollartimes.com/inflation/inflation.php?amount=5000&year=1961#:~:text=What%20is%20%245k%20in%201961%20worth%20in%20today's%20money%3F&text=Adjusted%20for%20inflation%2C%20%245%2C000%20in,over%20this%20period%20was%203.73%25.)
 
The restaurant owner then gave the ball to Maris, and I don’t know if the Maris family still owns the ball or it is in other hands.
 
Barry Bonds’ supposedly tainted 73rd home run ball from 2001 was sold to comic book and action figure mogul Todd McFarlane for $517,500, but you have to figure that in today’s world, Judge’s 61st and 62nd homers will go for maybe double that price, if not even triple or quadruple what McFarlane paid for Bonds’ homer ball.
 
So that kid was really nice for surrendering the 60th home run ball to Judge for basically not much of anything.
 
I don’t know what the ball would have gone for on the open market versus what the kid got for his efforts, but I am sure he could have paid for his college education with the sale of that ball.
 
But he was a nice guy.
 
Me, I wouldn’t be so nice.
 
If I would get any of those subsequent homers, I would keep it for a while, see the value go up the longer I waited, and finally sell the ball through an auction house and wait for my millions to come in.
 
Look, my situation is quite different than this 20 year old, so do you think that I am being selfish?
 
There are a million others who would do exactly the same thing, and I bet will actually do the same thing when one of them gets either the 61st or 62 homers.
 
Boy, would it help me to pay for my retirement!
 
But since I don’t have a ticket to any of the remaining games, it ain’t happening, so I am more likely to win the lottery than I am to get Judge’s historic home run balls.
 
It is nice to dream, though …
 
The Yankees won yesterday against the Pirates by a score of 14-2, and Judge only had two doubles in the rout.
 
The Boston Red Sox come into the Stadium for a four-game set starting tonight, and you can bet that the hated Red Sox want nothing to do with Judge’s home run history.
 
It will be interesting to see if Judge can hit his historic homers against the team that, with the Yankees, makes up the best rivalry in professional sports in this country.
 
I think that everyone is pulling for Judge to do just that, except for the Red Sox and their fans, who have been embarrassed enough this season by the team’s poor play, putting them in last place in the American League East.
 
And it would be equally embarrassing if Judge hits any of the historic homers into the Red Sox bullpen, and one of their pitchers catches the ball … sort of like rubbing it in.
 
We shall see what happens, but again, the idea is for Judge not only to hit his homers, but for me at least, for the Yankees to win those games and head into the playoffs lean and mean and ready to take on all comers.
 
Sure, I could use the money for those homers, but sitting at home, the wins are much more important.