Josh Hamilton's 2nd home run ball from 4 home run game on 5/8/2012

[schubert1970]

First of all, I would have posted this sooner, but I wanted to have the ball in hand and the day I received the ball I left for a vacation with my family.

I happen to be on the phone with a friend who used to frequent this site (Steve Mears) while the Ranger game was on TV and we were talking about my Josh Hamilton 2008 road jersey I picked up off ebay and how I was able to photomatch it to the front of a Sports Illustrated.

I was telling Steve how much I like Hamilton and how he had hit a home run in the game tonight in Baltimore already. Just then, BANG! He hits ANOTHER one. A kid (over 18 years of age) caught the ball and they were showing a close up shot of him on TV.

Just then I was thinking wow, I actually have a friend who's at the game tonight in Baltimore. Steve asked if I could call or e-mail him. Steve was telling me WHAT IF Josh Hamiltonhits 4 home runs tonight??" I was like "Yeah, that won't happen, but having an authentic home run ball of his to display with my Sports Illustrated cover photomatched jersey SURE would be cool!" Also, this was his third home run in a row if you count the home run from the previous night. Steve insisted I e-mail my friend and give it a shot. As he said, what's the chance of having this opportunity again, a friend at a game all the way across the states, where a guy I collect hit a home run in a multi-homer game? AND, I can identify the fan who caught the ball?

So I e-mailed my friend we then connected over the phone. Luckily for me, I had Tevo'd the game.I rewound it to the close up of the kid, clicked a screen shot picture of him,emailed it to my friend's cell phone and asked him to "GO FIND" this kid where Josh hit the home run. He said he'd give it a shot.

About 10 minutes goes by, and my phone rings. It's my friend at the game. HE FOUND THIS KID, PROUDLY CLINGING ONTO THAT HAMILTON HOME RUN BALL. My friend knew about how much I would offer so he negotiated a cash deal for the ball. Then my friend, knowing that having proof was paramount, drew up a letter of affidavit and took some pictures of the kid's ID and the ball. HE GOT THE BALL FOR ME!!! His second home run of the night.

Then, the truly incredible part happened. Or so I thought. While my friend was having this kid sign the letter to finish the deal, Josh Hamilton hit a THIRD home run. Now it was a seriously good night, having one of his home runs from a three home run game!

So after my friend calls me and tells me "It's a done deal, I have yourhome run ball for you", I called back Steve. I told him what I had pulled off on his suggestion. He again jumped at me with "BILL, it's the 8th inning and Baltimore can't keep the Rangers off the bases. HAMILTON WILL GET UPONE MORE TIME IN THE TOP OF THE NINTH. HOLD YOUR BREATH. IF HE HITS ANOTHER HOME RUN, YOU'LL HAVE A MAJOR PIECE OF HISTORY!"

I laughed it off and figured again, what are the odds? Forget it. In any case,I was Tevo'ing the game so I would have it on tape. We weren't watching every second of the game, and lost track of the time.

Then suddenly my phone rings. I missed the call. I saw it was Steve. My heart started beating. I quickly hit redial thinking something happened, otherwise WHY would he be calling me back?

The last thing I remember is the ringing in my ears as he answered, screaming in my ear "YOU CRAZY LUCKY (enter a word that closely rhymes with"bass" and "heard"), JOSH HAMILTON HIT A SIDE-ARMED 0-2 PITCH OVER THE CENTER FIELD WALL!!! HE DID IT!!! YOU HAVE A PIECE OF HISTORY!!!!"

I can't wait to get this ball and take it to a signing one day and have Josh Hamilton sign it for me in person. I will tell him what it is, and show him allof the proof. I can't wait to hear his reaction. I'm simply numb, on cloudnine.

This whole thing ranks up there with my Rose bat. A bit of luck never hurts.

The first two pics were taken just before the bill of sale was signed (4th or 5th inning).
The last two pics are when I received the ball and bill of sale.

I blacked out the name and ID of the seller.

[schubert1970]

One last thing I forgot to mention. When I received the ball, I saw a huge dirt mark on the side panel. Much darker looking than from the initial pics I received.

I watched the at bat again and just before the home run, the O's catcher tried to pick off the runner at first and threw the ball into the dirt, then it skipped off the bag. I guess the pitcher or ump never asked to replace the ball.

[marino13]

It's a great story!

As far as paper works and hi-res pictures from the "act of catching that HR baseball" - those are all good and so forth. But, there will be doubt!


(for having season ticket at Yankee stadium - field level outfield) I know more than enough fans and close friends who have HR baseball in their possession - Arod, Jeter, Cano, Posada and so forth. Most of them think they have valuable item on hand - to some extend, they do. But then again, it is all hearsay to everybody else.


it is a sad truth but that exactly what it is.


When are they going to put authenticator in the stand where potential HR baseballs will be landed? I know I would pay premium for those!


(And yes, I know the Tigers are the only team so far who are authenticating HR baseballs)

[Rob L]

Incredibe piece of history! Congrats. A collection centerpiece. I have one of only seven authenticated baseballs thrown by Randy Johnson for his 300th win which is a centerpiece of my collection!

Congrats again.

[schubert1970]

It's a great story!

As far as paper works and hi-res pictures from the "act of catching that HR baseball" - those are all good and so forth. But, there will be doubt!


(for having season ticket at Yankee stadium - field level outfield) I know more than enough fans and close friends who have HR baseball in their possession - Arod, Jeter, Cano, Posada and so forth. Most of them think they have valuable item on hand - to some extend, they do. But then again, it is all hearsay to everybody else.


it is a sad truth but that exactly what it is.


When are they going to put authenticator in the stand where potential HR baseballs will be landed? I know I would pay premium for those!


(And yes, I know the Tigers are the only team so far who are authenticating HR baseballs)

I guess your right, but you could doubt the guy putting the holo on the ball didn't placed it on the right ball and pocketed the real ball. You can add doubt to most any game used items.

Here are a few cool Getty pics of the second home run. You can see the dirt stain and a blurry image of the Oriole logo on the ball.

[schubert1970]

Incredibe piece of history! Congrats. A collection centerpiece. I have one of only seven authenticated baseballs thrown by Randy Johnson for his 300th win which is a centerpiece of my collection!

Congrats again.

Thanks! It's definitely going to stay as the centerpiece of my collectionfor a long time.

[schubert1970]

Someone asked me to post a pic of the ball showing the Oriole 20th anniversary logo.

[salmon]

Nice, I'm curious to know why the boy if he was proudly clinging on to it, decided to sell it. Hope he wasn't coerced into letting it go.

[schubert1970]

Nice, I'm curious to know why the boy if he was proudly clinging on to it, decided to sell it. Hope he wasn't coerced into letting it go.

I wasn't going to get into the purchase price, but it should answer you question. He knew the ball at the time was worth about 1k and was willing to sell around price which is why he was so excited. I offered him $500 and he countered with $1,500. We then agreed to $800. At the time we agreed on the price and I made the purchase I believe this was about market value for a hr ball. At least this was my gut feeling. I did know he would hit two more homers later in the game.

[swainer]

Nice work getting this ball!!! Initially, I thought I read that Josh had the other three but I checked again today and all I can find is he has #3 and #4. Maybe you can convince him that #2 misses it's "brothers" and need to be reunited. Then track down #1 and you have the master set! Loan it out to the Hall of Fame...take it on tour with Josh...your options are endless!

Congrats on tracking it down! Technology is such a wonderful thing, huh?

John