Rookie's First Big League Memory Held For Ransom

You've heard stories about ballhawks, those unwieldy characters who scoop up milestone home run balls only to hold them for ransom from the players who hit them. This is one of those tales.

Remember the guy who caught Ken Griffey's 600th home run and sold it at an auction for $42,000? Or the dude who wanted $10,000 for Carlos Gonzalez' first home run ball? Our latest ballhawk apparently does, because how else would he muster up the audacity to demand so much from an obscure A's rookie outfielder named Matt Carson?

Outfielder Matt Carson does not have the ball from his first big-league home run - the fan who caught it Monday refused to give it up unless he was paid for it.

"I only want money," the fan told clubhouse personnel before leaving.

"He wanted a lot, too," said Carson, who like others heard that the demand was $10,000...

In all likelyhood, the ball was worth more before Matt Carson hit it. A career minor leaguer, Matt's also probably not in the position to drop 10 grand on a symbolic baseball—unless that baseball is made of pure gold, in which case it'd be pretty hard to hit out in the first place. But I digress. This guy is an asshole.

A 'fan'? That'd be generous [SF Gate]

Matt Carson Can't Retrieve First Big League Homer Ball, Not Sure Why [Bleacher Report]