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After Phillies fan snatched that HR ball in viral incident, we ask: What's it worth?

cllct weighs the value of a Harrison Bader HR ball from a meaningless September game

Cover Image for After Phillies fan snatched that HR ball in viral incident, we ask: What's it worth?
Andrew Feltwell, left, was confronted by the woman after he came away with the home-run baseball. (Credit: NBC Sports Philadelphia)

If you're going to ruin your life over a baseball, it's worth asking, "How much is that baseball actually worth?"

Blowout Cards this week offered $5,000 to the woman who infamously took Harrison Bader's home run ball from a young boy and his father at a game in Miami on Friday night, as long as she inscribed it, "I'm sorry."

But that's not really what we're looking for.

We're looking for how much a Bader home run ball is actually worth. The best place to start is at the top.

The most a Bader home run ball has sold for, at least publicly, is $450. That was a home-run ball from when he was with the New York Yankees, from Game 1 of the 2022 ALCS. It sold at Heritage Auctions in May 2023.

Now compare that to a meaningless game in September.

What's the value of a fourth-inning solo shot from Bader in the Phillies' 9-3 victory over the lowly Marlins?

With regular game-used balls at team shops starting at around $50, and home run balls of less marketable players selling in the $75 to $125 range, this ball would have been $125 tops.

Now, of course, it's worth a whole lot more if the woman is returning it in some promotional fashion.

Then again, if it's not authenticated, and it can't be because MLB doesn't authenticate something once it leaves the stadium when it doesn't have a watermark (used only for milestone homers), who would ever trust what she is presenting is the real thing?

Darren Rovell is the founder of cllct and one of the country's leading reporters on the collectibles market. He previously worked for ESPN, CNBC and The Action Network.