If you caught Albert Pujols’ 700th home run, what would you do with the ball?
That became a prominent question as the St. Louis Cardinals slugger began to approach the milestone. While some said they’d give it up with nothing in return, others wanted some sort of compensation.
The fan who caught Pujols’ historic 700th home run Friday night against the Los Angeles Dodgers did neither of those things, though.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Derrick Goold revealed the Cardinals snagged home run ball No. 699, but it wasn’t an easy task to get No. 700. The ball was authenticated by officials before the fan left the stadium.
This, as you can imagine, caused quite the uproar on Twitter with people saying whoever caught it should just give it back so Pujols can have it. The ball likely would fetch a pretty penny if the fan were to sell it, which some Twitter users encouraged the fan to do.
But the only opinion that matters on the situation is Pujols, and he’s just fine with the fan keeping the ball.
“Souvenirs are for the fans. I don’t have any problem if they want to keep it,” Pujols told reporters after the game, per Dodgers beat writer Bill Plunkett. “If they want to give it back, that’s great. But at the end of the day, I don’t focus on material stuff.”
Pujols always has been a class act.
The fan still could give back the ball. At the end of the day it’s a tough decision because, on one hand, you have a historic home run ball that you could keep and display in your house forever. On the other hand, that’s probably a six-figure souvenir.
No matter what happens, it appears Pujols is just fine either way.
