Fan who caught Pujols' 2,000th RBI ball wouldn't give it back
The fan who caught the home run that Albert Pujols launched Thursday in Detroit, representing the Los Angeles Angels slugger's 2,000th career RBI, declined to give the baseball to Pujols, according to Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times.
Albert Pujols' 2000th career RBI was a big one.
— Los Angeles Angels (@Angels) May 9, 2019
(Angels x @budweiserusa) pic.twitter.com/YGYwFAl0GF
A piece of @MLB history! Eli Hydes caught the @PujolsFive home run for his 2,000th MLB RBI...and a chance to meet Albert after the game. pic.twitter.com/ZsojT2HKsM
— Kent French (@KentFrench) May 9, 2019
The Tigers say the fan was offered a Pujols bat, a meet and greet with Pujols, a Trout bat & the Angels said they would offer even more. They said the fan turned down the offer and that was essentially it. 2 full time employees that have dealt with this before were sent to him.
— Jeff Riger (@riger1984) May 9, 2019
According to the Tigers, any ball that enters the seating area at Comerica Park cannot be authenticated by MLB, meaning the baseball isn't worth anything. And don't expect the fan to get anything from Pujols.
“I won’t pay one penny for that. He can have it," the 10-time All-Star said, according to Jeff Riger of 97.1 The Ticket.
Pujols added, "I don't play this game so I can pay fans so they can give me, you know ... He can have that piece of history, it's for the fans that we play for, too. He has the right to keep it. The ball went in the stands so I would never fight anybody to give anything back."
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