Fan who caught Aaron Judge’s 62nd home run ball has decision to make

The baseball world has been hanging on every pitch of every at-bat that Aaron Judge has had for the last few weeks. Once the massive center fielder for the Yankees tied the AL and club record set by Roger Maris, the pressure was on to move into uncharted territory. It would have been amazing for Judge to be able to hit number 62 in New York, but it wasn’t meant to be.

The journey brought him to Arlington, Texas, for the final four games of the regular season. It seemed like a, when is he going to get the home run question, and not an if, since Judge would be facing a less than stellar slate of Rangers pitchers. After Texas had thrown their top two starters (Maritn Perez and Jon Gray) in the first two games, the table was set for Judge. The crowd for the second half of the day, night double-header was reported as the largest in the short three-year history of Globe Life Field.

The guy that caught the historic ball is Corey Youmans from Dallas. His play in the left field stands was one of the all-time calm plays for a highly sought-after homer. The ball came right at him in the front row, and he was able to catch it with his glove. There was no scrum or fight for the valuable ball. It was his all the way. Now, what in the world to do with the prized possession?

Youmans’ initial quote when asked what he was going to do with the ball, as he was being taken to an undisclosed location by security, was that he “hadn’t thought about it.” That very well could be true, but my guess is that he had thought about it since he was sitting on the front row of the outfield with glove in tow.

The more accurate response might have been that he didn’t know yet what he was going to do. He was keeping his cards close to his chest, and keeping all options open, at least at that point in time immediately after the potential life-changing snag.

$2MM is the number that has been thrown around the most often, as the amount of money that the Judge 62nd homer could fetch. That is a lot of money, no matter what economic class that you fall into.

Youmans has three clear-cut options. First, he could simply keep the ball and place it on his mantel to enjoy with family and friends. Second, he could give the ball back to Judge in exchange for some pre-negotiated swag, tickets, and possibly a cash reward of some sort (pretty sure that Judge is going to get paid in his next contract). The third, and final option, would be to sell the ball to the highest bidder, presumably in that $2MM range. That could happen soon, or he could wait a little while before doing so.

I’m not going to speculate as to what Youmans’ decision will be. I have thought about what I would do if I had somehow caught Judge’s ball (I wasn’t at the game, so that would have been difficult), and it is a tougher choice that I originally thought. Without a doubt, I wouldn’t keep the ball long-term. The idea of one of the kids going all Scotty Smalls with the ball is something that I just couldn’t risk!

So, to give it back or sell it? I would probably want to hear what kind of offer Judge and the Yankees would come to the table with before just selling it to a collector. If the offer was enticing enough, and had a decent cash component, then the baseball guy in me would want to go that route. If, however, the offer was simply a signed bat and ball and a picture, I would have it up for auction within the next few months.

Even though Corey Youmans has a hard choice as to what to do with Aaron Judge’s 62nd home run ball, he is a winner. He won the souvenir lottery, and he can enjoy that victory as he sees fit.