Don’t Give Rex Hudler Important Objects
Jul 31st 2007ericjhoroMLB & Baseball
Cal Ripken Jr. is now in the Hall of Fame, but one of the most important heirlooms from his storied career is not. The ball that was the final out of the 5th inning in game #2131 is in the possession of Rex Hudler, the former Angels outfielder who made the grab that sealed Ripken’s place in history. Unfortunately, Hudler has not been the best caretaker for the ball.
In his Orange County home, Hudler was showing the ball to some friends and left it unattended on a living-room table. His daughter, Alyssa, then 2, found a Sharpie and scribbled over half of the precious souvenir.
“I was just blown away,” said Hudler, now an Angels broadcaster. “That’s the most important baseball I’ll ever have.”
Hudler did eventually find somebody to write on the other half of the ball.
A few years later, Hudler, who was doing some postseason commentating for “Good Morning America,” asked Ripken, who today will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., to sign the ball.
Hudler explained how his daughter defaced the ball, so Ripken signed the other side of it with this message: “Hud, what a catch, it must have been right at you.”
It’s a shame that had to happen to Ripken’s ball, but it’s given me an idea. If a rabid Bonds hater ends up with home run #756 and doesn’t know what to do with it, he should just scribble a profanity laced steroid-themed tirade on it and then donate it to the Hall of Fame on the condition that the writing not be washed off.
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