Throughout the season the CBS Sports MLB experts will bring you a weekly Batting Around roundtable breaking down pretty much anything. The latest news, a historical question, thoughts about the future of baseball, all sorts of stuff. Last week we discussed one of baseball's newest rules. Now we're going to break down what we'd do with a milestone baseball.
If you caught Aaron Judge's 62nd homer, what would you want in exchange for giving the ball back?
Matt Snyder: Cold, hard cash.
I have no issues with people who want memorabilia and it's kind of cool to look at sometimes. I just feel like if I had something like that displayed somewhere in my house it would feel fun the first several times, but after that I'd be thinking about the bar or deck upgrades that could have been made instead. Gimme the cash and materialistic stuff. For the people who would scoff at that and say life experiences are more important, if I caught the ball, I've already acquired that life experience! It can't be taken away and I don't need to see the ball to remember it.
R.J. Anderson: A one-day contract for next spring training. I'm mostly kidding -- I'd accept their offer of cash or a signed bat or jersey -- but this is the franchise that let Billy Crystal suit up for them once upon a time; if he can take an at-bat in an exhibition game, why can't I? Sure, I'd make a fool of myself out there, but that's the norm for me. At least this would be accompanied by an unrivaled experience.
Dayn Perry: As a Modern Gentleman, I find cash to be an annoyance, so I will insist upon a substantial direct deposit into my checking account. Once I see the negotiated figure show up, then I'll turn over the stupid ball. Given that we're talking about a major U.S. sports franchise, I expect the Yankees will try to persuade me to accept crypto as payment, but I will not agree to such terms. I would set the ball on fire in front of them before I'd accept a signed bat or some such similar crap.
Mike Axisa: I'm not a memorabilia person and meet and greets do nothing for me. The kid who caught Derek Jeter's 3,000th hit received suite tickets for the rest of the season and postseason, three signed bats and three signed balls, plus two signed jerseys. Give me the cash equivalent of that and we can call it a done deal. I would want Judge to have the baseball, but I have the ball and therefore I have the leverage, and I'm not negotiating with Judge. I'm negotiating with the Yankees. Whatever they give me for the ball is a drop in the bucket. Do you know how expensive it is to go to games these days? I would have zero guilt about holding onto the ball until I get what I consider fair value.