Twelve Year Old Girl Bests Phillies’ Slugger

In order to try to pumpsome energy into their dull sport, baseball announcers are constantly remindingtheir viewers that they are witnessing history: 

“You saw it herefirst, folks! That is the first time a third baseman has thrown two balls intothe stands in the same inning!  Wow, some lucky fan has a valuablesouvenir. . . . Wait a minute, folks.  Our statistician is telling me thatthis is not the first time that has happened. . . .  Has it ever happenedin this ball park?  Oh.  In the third inning? . . .  Un-huh, butwas it a day game?. . .  So there you have it folks, we have confirmedthat this is the first time in baseball history that a National League thirdbaseman has thrown two balls into the stands in the same inning during aninter-league day game played in an American League park in the year that he isdue to become a free agent!  Wow!  Imagine that!”

And so, according to this view of history, Phillies’ Slugger Ryan Howard(pictured) made history, as reported on CNN.com, when he hit his 200^thhome run in his 658^th major league game, making him the fastestplayer to reach the milestone, besting the previous record by 48 games.  It is a great achievement, but I’m notsure if it is really one for the history books, even if CNN says it is.  The lucky fan to retrieve the ball was12-year-old Jennifer Valdivia, who apparently bested her 17-year-old brother inthe treasure hunt. 

An official from the home team, the Florida Marlins, then reportedlyescorted Jennifer and her brother to the Phillies’ dugout.  There, CNN reports that the following transaction occurred:

APhillies employee, Jennifer says, told her if she handed over the ball, shecould come back after the game, meet the slugger and get him to autograph it.She gave the ball up. In exchange, she got cotton candy and a soda.

Alas,after the game, she and her family went to the Philllies’ clubhouse asdirected, but Ryan Howard never showed up.  A security guard gave her a signed ball, but it wasn’t the ball.  Jennifer testified that she was, “like, really sad.”  Jennifer’s mother was more than sad,she was “steamed.”  Eventually, shewas also represented by an attorney who, through the alchemical processes inwhich attorneys specialize, metamorphosed anger and disappointment into a legalclaim for $15,000.  The Phillies’and Howard’s resistance were thereby overcome.  They returned the home run ball to Jennifer and also paidher attorney’s fees. 

Jennifer says that sheintends to keep the ball and to show it to her kids.  I hope she does, rather than selling it.  As CNN notes, letting fans keep ballsis a way of letting them connect with their baseball heroes.  We ought not to put a price tag onbeing a part of history.

[Jeremy Telman]