ida kept the ball and the souven-nazis be damned.

How much would a major-league baseball signed by Peter Schmuck fetch on eBay? Or how about one of his Hawaiian shirts?

I agree with your opinion. I'd keep the ball and have MLB authenticate it and put it up for bids as well.

We live in a capitalistic world, so while it's nice to give the ball back for nothing in retun, it's also pretty dumb.

I'd sell the ball, get some tickets to Cleveland for me & my buddies to play golf! YEAH WHITE!

I agree with you Pete, who are we to tell someone else what to do with what is now his property. I probably would have done the same thing as that guy did. Give me a signed ball and ball and heck, I would have got a picture with Wieters holdling the ball. Why not? This is supposed to be a game and aren't games supposed to be fun? Why would anyone care if a fan asked to get a few signed items from a player, people do it all the time. The player should be happy he is getting the ball back.

jeez, you've got to be kidding me. i just don't care what happened here.
this guy should just take what the orioles and weiters gave him and go away. he got a bat and autograph and got to meet matt. that's it. now shut up, stop being a greedy jerk and move on with your life.

Hey what is the big deal, give the guy some tickets take 2 minutes to meet. What does it matter, 30,000 empty seats give him seats for the rest of the year.

Now Nester (who reminds me of the demon imp on World of Warcraft) is using the guy as a pawn to further his evil agenda against the O's

i just read your other entry, pete. and saw the comment that this guy is going on WNST to talk about this.
that's just too funny. and predictable.

Just listened to the interview on WNST. Didn't hear anything evil or predictable. Personally, I don't care what the O's told the guy - they should, regardless, give him x-amount of tixs to future game - God knows they never sell out.

I was in the section the ball fell in last night. An orioles rep immediatly pulled him from the stands after he caught the ball. A few innings later he came back to the seats empty handed it looked like. We asked if he had gotten anything for it, he simply replied with "Nothing", but he was not smiling or did he seem happy at all. Weiters should personally made a deal with the fan. The O's should not get involved. Didn't Weiters sign a huge contract on the deadline last year. He can afford to give this guy at least something.

Apparently, the folks at Majestic don't feel like us oompa loompas who walk around at about 5'8" and 150 lbs don't deserve authentic jerseys that we're not swimming in.

So that's what I'd ask for.

I think the Orioles are conducting themselves as one should expect here. When special souvenuirs get hit, they're usually exchanged for autographed memorabilia, if at all. Fairly standard. The big elephant in the room is that we hang high hopes on this kid, but it's ridiculous to negotiate the valuable articles of a Hall of Fame career in advance of the career. A million different things can happen between now and 20 years from now. Much of which we Os fans have seen in one form or another. Let the kid play and see where it goes. What happened to B.J. Surhoff's 1st HR ball? Was there a similar controversy? He was an excellent top draft pick too afterall. With all due respect for Surhoff's quality MLB career, I bet that hypothetical fan feels a little foolish for making such a stink. With all due respect to Oscar, for some reason I don't think Oscar Salazar's 1st HR ball was so ready to breed contempt. Why is Wieter's 1st HR ball any different? Really. Did that fan try to get a special meeting with Salazar? Would they have cared?

I understand why Mayfield may have wanted to include his children in his lucky moment, but, he shouldn't feel entitled to it. It sounds like the Os stadium official, who "represents" the Orioles about as much as the beerstand clerks do, was probably handling it pretty badly. The Orioles should just apologize for the misunderstanding and arrange a night at the park where Mayfield's children get to meet Wieters. Cover it on MASN as a mea culpa moment and make it a feelgood moment that really was just a misunderstanding. It happens.

Peter,
If you hit a HR ball, I would insist that you meet my kids. It would give them hope. jk, amigo.

Peter, forget this controversy a bigger one has arisen. What is wrong with your mentoring skills? Your protege, the Boy Wonder Maese has been named the new Deadskins beat writer for the Washington Post. Where did you go so wrong?

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Pete's reply: And he was like a son to me. Now that I think about it, my son also was like a son to me until he became a Redskins fan.

If I caught any player's first home run ball I'd give it back. If it's a number ball like 500, something like that, I might sell it, I know it would put a dent in my student loans.

It's just a matter of the example players set. A player gets his first hit, the players on the other team usually make sure he gets the ball. A first home run should be given back too.

Obviously you should get something in return. Personally a signed ball and a chance to meet the guy would be enough for me. In the end it's all about the memory and the moment as far as I'm concerned. I don't need the actual ball to remember catching it, I can look at the signed one and say, "that's from the time I caught so and so's first home run and got to meet him when I gave it back."

But if I ever catch a number ball, please join the rest of the world on eBay.

If the person has a deal and it is not honored, then I would be mad, too. It's not like he asked for the moon, didn't get it, and is crying foul. He had a deal, it was accepted, then the Orioles staff didn't come through.

It would be like I sold my car for $1,000 and then when it was time for me to give up the car, I gave you a couple seats and the radio.

Peter, maybe you can confirm/deny this ... but my understanding is that in situations like this, the team handles the 'negotiations', not the player. The ball, so to speak, was out of Matt's court.

There was a prospect for the Marlins who hit his first big-league HR. The fan that caught it didn't want any of that guy's stuff - he wanted Hanley Ramirez schwag.

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Pete's reply: You are correct. The team handles that.

Peter, didn't you also mentor LaConfora (a Bal kid) turned Skins beat writer! Disgusting!

And you wonder why our society is going so downhill. Every John wants to make a buck off every little thing in life. Common human decency should prevail here but does that ever happen anymore, NO! Return the ball, shake Mike's hand and move on. This is another sign of how business has taken over in every pro sport. Life is about doing for others, not being so greedy and selfish that you have to get something in return. Get over yourself Mr. Mayfield. Going on about your life and being grateful for what you have might actually teach your kids something about humility and generosity and keep them from falling into the money hungry, self-centered humans that are showing up on a daily basis. I think you get my point, being a bigger man is hard to do but the implications of it last a long time.

I happenned to be in the same section, one row behind the guy who caught the ball. After he caught it, he seemed perfectly happy to hold onto it, just like you would any other home run ball, but it was the Orioles who approached him, wanting the ball. Also, WNST showed up shortly after the catch, wanting an interview. It seemed like everyone was making a huge deal about it, saying that the ball was worth hundred of thousands, so it would be easy for the guy to get caught up in the whole thing.

Fascinated by the responses to this situation. We Americans live in this weird duality. We're a capitalist society, but there's the Roman/Southern "do the honorable thing" element as well. Greed is bad, yet we all want to be rich and work to get rich. That's why the CEOs get multimillion buyout packages when they bankrupt a company, and the "do the right thing" people are forced to testify before Congress concerning the entire liquidation of their 401K. It's sad, but the game is set up that way.

Sorta a grand view of all this, but I guess what I'm saying is I agree with Pete, and I'd see what fair market value of the ball would be.

Giving the ball to him might is not the "right" thing to do. It is the "exceptional" thing to do. There don't seem to be a whole lot of exceptional people now a days.