[jrodcm34]

Hey Guys,

I got an email from my brother in law yesterday that one of the kids that he coaches caught Crawford's grand slam ball on Wednesday night.

Neither of them know much about sports memorabilia so they asked me what I thought. I told the kid that if he wants to sell it, he needs to get it authenticated to get the most out of it. Or he can contact the Giants and see if any type of trade could be made. I thought PSA authenticated these types of things but I was told they do not.

He's a good kid so I just want to steer him in the right direction. Anyone have any experience with this? I don't think he knows what he wants to do with the ball yet (keep, sell, trade) but I want to make sure we got all of his options covered.

Any help would be appreciated.

[Dub24rollin]

I would keep it! That's once in a lifetime memorabilia!

[jrodcm34]

I would keep it! That's once in a lifetime memorabilia!

Yeah, personally I would either keep it or see if Crawford/Giants wanted it. I'd ask for a re-do of Wednesday's game... or a signed bat haha.

[bbniner80]

You need to contact the Pirates and go from there.

[waynetalger]

I would try to contact the team. Who knows Crawford may want the ball and might give him and his whole family season tickets or he may get to hang out with Crawford for a day once the season is over.
Next Crawford may not want the ball but the team does and can come to some kind of deal or he could really suprise him and get Crawfords home mailing address and send it to him with a discription of what the ball is.

No good deed goes unpunished and just knowing you did the right thing would be a life long earned lesson. If he doesnt want to gets his parents involved this would be the best otherwise now Crawford and or the team will have to deal with the Parents and the lucky guy which could turn into a disaster.

Now lets put it if I were the lucky one. Knowing about sports and I got something like that I would send the ball in the mail with my picture in my little league uniform and tell him the story. Not in type but my own hand wrighting so it is more personal.
Ball Players show compassion and should be a pillar of the community so showing some compassion the other way would be a life changing for the ball player no matter who it is

But thats my thoughts

Either way one lucky child.

[djohn]

The best way to authenticate is when you are still at the game. Here is some info, however keep in mind that since he is obviously no longer at the game that getting it authenticated is going to be much more difficult. http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/authentication/program.jsp
As for contacting the player/team about the ball...I would think that if either the team or player wanted it that they would've sent a representative out to the stands to find the person who got it. However I do think that it would at least be worth contacting the team to see.