http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/10/09/florida.baseball.lawsuit/index.html

 

hah. That's what they get...

I think this is ridiculous. That ball has no value to anyone but Ryan Howard. Take some autograpghs and get some pictures and let the man have his milestone baseball.

 

This goes for anyone who catches a home run ball. Unless it is a ball that sets some all time record and has the potential to fetch someone a life-changing amount of money on the open market, let the player have the ball.

It's not even the value of the ball so much as the attitude towards the fans. They lied to the little girl numerous times, claimed she'd get the ball back (obvious BS), they claimed Ryan Howard would sign it for her (ended up being BS as well), and they gave her cotten candy to keep her happy. Oh, and then Ryan Howard never showed up, so they stood the fans up too.

 

What they should have done was just tell the fans... look the ball means a lot to Ryan Howard. And make a deal. Like they normally do. Tickets to baseball games, a bat, something to that sort. But instead they tried to shortchange a little 12 year old girl.

Well, the ball is supposedly worth about $15,000 or more. On those grounds alone I think that the ball absolutely has value to someone other than Howard.

 

That might not be life-changing, but I think most people would love to have that in their bank accounts.

 

 

$15,000 for Ryan Howard's 200th HR? Where did that number come from? If that is the market value of the ball, so be it, but I find that very difficult to believe. Still, it seems Howard and the team acted like jerks in this case. Load the girl up with a lot of gifts and pictures in exchange for the ball and move on, but that apparently that didn't happen. I still say you let the player keep his milestone, but there has to be some kind of reasonable compensation.

Yeah, I probably would have given it to him (would have cost them more than a ball and a couple tickets though) but that's legally her ball, you can't just trick a little kid into giving it to you. That's low.

Yeah, I think I read too much into the article. $15,000 seems to be what the attorney was seeking. When this story broke over a week ago, it seems the auction estimates were closer to $1,500 to $3,000. That is still a healthy chunk of money. Remember the reason why the ball has monetary value is because Ryan Howard was the quickest player in history to reach that plateau. That is different than some average ballplayer reaching a personal milestone.

 

The girl should be legally entitled to the ball, but I agree that out of respect for the game and Ryan Howard she should have just returned it for reasonable compensation.

 

If it were me, I probably would have returned it immediately unless its estimated worth was in the range of tens of thousands of dollars.

 

 

Yeah, it has some significance in that he was the quickest to hit 200 HR, but even then, I'd think you'd be hard pressed to find someone willing to pay $1500-$3000 for a record that will likely be broken at some point in the not-to-distant future. The ball only has any real value to Howard. If it were me, I'd probably want an autographed bat and a picture with the guy and the ball just to prove I caught it. Now if it was something that could fetch tens of thousands of dollars? By all means, get whatever you can for it. But if it is something like this, or like the Coghlan situation in Milwaukee, the ball should go to the player...provided the team and the player do the right thing and take care of the fan.

I hate that girl for reasons i cannot explain.Just the way she looks.

This was a poor choice of conduct by the Howard and/or the Phillies, et. al

We're looking at a multimillion dollar organization and an extremely wealthy athlete here. They should have the courtesy to make a generous offer, let alone paying a fair market value, which would be .015% of Ryan's contract value for this year, even if the ball were considered to be valued at $3,000.

This was a poor choice of conduct by the Howard and/or the Phillies, et. al

We're looking at a multimillion dollar organization and an extremely wealthy athlete here. They should have the courtesy to make a generous offer, let alone paying a fair market value, which would be .015% of Ryan's contract value for this year, even if the ball were considered to be valued at $3,000.

 

 

You all assuming this is true. It is entirely possible that when she got home her parents figured this was something they could make some money off of.

This was a poor choice of conduct by the Howard and/or the Phillies, et. al

We're looking at a multimillion dollar organization and an extremely wealthy athlete here. They should have the courtesy to make a generous offer, let alone paying a fair market value, which would be .015% of Ryan's contract value for this year, even if the ball were considered to be valued at $3,000.

 

 

You all assuming this is true. It is entirely possible that when she got home her parents figured this was something they could make some money off of.

 

Did you read the article? They gipped the little girl. They took her ball and lied to her. It's low. Real low.

Did you read the article? They gipped the little girl. They took her ball and lied to her. It's low. Real low.

 

 

I read it. The reporter told us the plantiff's claims, we are assuming that it is the actual account of what happened.

Did you read the article? They gipped the little girl. They took her ball and lied to her. It's low. Real low.

 

 

I read it. The reporter told us the plantiff's claims, we are assuming that it is the actual account of what happened.

 

You are assuming that it is not what happened, you mean? When only one aspect of information is presented you are safer believing one side of the story then making up the other sides story. For all you know the other side does not disagree...

 

PLus it's not farfetched or unbelieveable at all. It's not like she said Howard gave her the finger as he walked out...

This was a poor choice of conduct by the Howard and/or the Phillies, et. al

We're looking at a multimillion dollar organization and an extremely wealthy athlete here. They should have the courtesy to make a generous offer, let alone paying a fair market value, which would be .015% of Ryan's contract value for this year, even if the ball were considered to be valued at $3,000.

 

 

You all assuming this is true. It is entirely possible that when she got home her parents figured this was something they could make some money off of.

 

Did you read the article? They gipped the little girl. They took her ball and lied to her. It's low. Real low.

Who cares about the stupid girl.Like she knows anything about baseball anyway.I freaking hate this girl.Her and her family are such sinners.Fake fans like her don't deserve prized milestones like this.

God i hate this little girl to epic proportions.Her personality in real life, is that of a rude smartass.She is a rotten person and doesn't deserve this milestone ball.Allah punish the wicked, an eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth.I'm sorry guys but you all should see the light.

Lol yeah how do you know she is a fake fan? I agree with you that a fake fan does not deserve to be awarded... and I would probably not defend anyone trying to get 10 grand out of this... but the point I am trying to defend is that it was indeed low of the Phillies and Howard to handle it the way they did.

Do you know her personally or something?

 

You are really going to town on her in this thread. :lol

 

Yeah and look at the attitude on this little girl.Here's one example.

 

And she isn't a baseball fan either, dumb girl.

You are assuming that it is not what happened, you mean? When only one aspect of information is presented you are safer believing one side of the story then making up the other sides story. For all you know the other side does not disagree...

 

PLus it's not farfetched or unbelieveable at all. It's not like she said Howard gave her the finger as he walked out...

 

 

No, I am reserving judgement.

... you claimed that everyone else is assuming. If anyone is assuming anything it is you. Information that is not presented cannot be formulated out of the mid air. That is theory. We actually have something proposed to us, and nothing proposed from the other side. There is no argument for the other side as it stands.

Typically in stories like this, the media selects a "victim" to make the story more dramatic. The same thing happened with the Coghlan/ball hawk fiasco. There were several conflicting statements that made the media report seem questionable.

 

Don't believe everything you read just because it comes from a published source. We have a legal system for a reason.

 

 

For sure... but there is no reason to go across and make outlandish assumptions just because you hate the media... for all we know this is what happened. If you want to say you dont believe it, fine, but please dont go on about how it's necessarily wrong because it is indeed the only fact presented.

I was mostly referring about retro...

 

but in the case of Eric I dont see how when you read this you "assume" anything. It's not assuming if there is only 1 side of the story. He said everyone assumes that this was the case... but really it is him who is assuming that it's not.

 

Hard to explain, probably didnt come out right there... but anyways... it's whatever. I agree with you it's best not to take a side... if only America could think that way :|