Byline: Joe Kay Associated Press
The college student who caught the baseball Sammy Sosa hit for his 500th home run is putting it up for auction.
MastroNet Inc. of Chicago will take bids on the ball starting Aug. 11. The auction house has set a minimum bid of $20,000, but expects the ball to go for many times that amount.
President Doug Allen doubts that Sosa's suspension for using a corked bat will drive down the value of the ball.
The Cubs outfielder hit No. 500 at Great American Ball Park on April 4. Sosa's homers came under suspicion after cork was found in his cracked bat on June 3.
'I think you'd have to be naive to say there's no impact at all,' Allen said Wednesday in a telephone interview. 'That impact is offset by a couple of things. He's come back so strong. Second, he's still a player that's loved by fans. I don't think anybody's going to question his significance in the history of baseball.'
Sosa became the 18th player to reach 500 homers when he connected off reliever Scott Sullivan in the seventh inning of the Reds' 10-9 win. His bat was sent to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, and was among five that were later tested for cork and found to be clean.
Zach Kirk, 22, of St. Louis, was in the right field stands with his girlfriend and got the 500th homer ball, which deflected off several sets of hands and came to rest at his feet.
Kirk is a Cardinals fan and considered giving the ball to Sosa, reminded of how a grounds crew member returned Mark McGwire's 62nd home run ball after he broke the season record in 1998.
After thinking it over, Kirk decided to put it up for auction to pay for his college education. A senior at Missouri, he plans to become a high school teacher and soccer coach.
'I decided after talking it over with my parents,' Kirk said Wednesday in a phone interview from St. Louis. 'They were a big influence on why I decided to sell it.'
Kirk went to the Reds game at the urging of his girlfriend, Jessica Shull, who lives in suburban Cincinnati and attends Miami University in nearby Oxford. They wanted to see the Reds' new ballpark.
Sosa's 500th homer wasn't a consideration when she got the tickets. She picked right field hoping that Adam Dunn or Ken Griffey Jr. would hit a homer there.
Kirk, who is working this the summer as a tour guide at the Anheuser-Busch brewery in St. Louis, got an education in finding an agent and then an auction house for the 500th homer ball.
'It's been almost like an internship in itself this summer in how sports collectibles work,' he said. 'I've taken the attitude to enjoy it and have fun with it. It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I've been treated like an athlete without actually being an athlete.'
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MELVIN GRIER/Post file photo
Cubs outfielder Sammy Sosa hit his 500t h home run at Great American Ball Park on April 4. A St. Louis resident ended up with it.
