How much for one rib?

I don't love day games as much as I'd like to.

Listening to games in the evenings has become such a big part of my routine, that i'm legitimately disappointed when I don't have a game to catch at night.

But the inherent desire to "skip school" and the realization that it was the last home game until after the All-Star break overwhelmed me, so I scheduled a very important meeting that just-so-happened to take place between 12:00 and 3:00 inside the Metrodome yesterday afternoon. What a break!

Not sure if it was the return of the Fightin' Canadian, the fact that school is out, or the allure of the lunchtime Dome Dog...but there were many more people in attendance than I would have expected. In other words, it was harder than I thought it would be to buy a "cheap seat" and sneak into the lower deck. But with Quixotic dedication, I found my Dulcinea just past first base near the top of the lower deck. Take that, Pohlad!

And it was from this gloriously underpaid-for seat that I witnessed Frank Thomas hit is 500th career home run. Bringing me to today's question...How much was this event "worth"? Both historically and financially. Would I tell my kids that I was there when it happened? Would Bob Costas someday narrate a two-hour documentary dedicated to the career of Frank Thomas? Or even a two minute segment on "TWIB Notes"? How about the ticket stub? Should I save it? Should I sell it? Would someone actually buy it?

I don't mean to demean or even question the value of Frank Thomas' career. In addition to having one of the most underrated nicknames in sports history, he's also been nothing short of an incredible hitter for most of his career. But has he seperated himself to a point where he belongs to a part of Baseball Lore? I can't really answer that. And if he did, would I save the ticket stub anyway?

I can say that he hasn't managed to distinguish himself enough within my own personal lore. (If you find yourself without lore, it's fairly easy to obtain...I think you can even netflix it)

So as the ball left the park, I felt buzzless...no chills up or around my spine. This wasn't a big moment for me. But it must have been for someone, my co not-worker claims the ball would probably fetch $10G on E-Bay.

Really? Ten THOUSAND dollars for a baseball? This isn't me rearing my ugly socialist head again...there must be a much better way for a human to spend $10,000 on THEMSELVES aside from buying a baseball you had nothing to do with in the first place. How about a nice trip to Door County?

All this is a really rambling way of saying, "I just don't get it".

Even when I was a kid and collected stuff...baseball cards, mainly...I never felt like I was doing it for the cash. Sure, we checked our Beckett's to see if the value of the cards was arrow up or arrow down...but that was more about owning something that few others had, not about a retirement fund.

Now, as an adult, I have no conception of folks who wait in line (trampling little kids) to have Joe Mauer sign a Jimmy John's wrapper. And it's not just sports. Why would it matter to me if George Saunders signed my copy of "The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil"? It's still a great book, and while meeting him might be cool...I don't really care for his signature.

AmI in the minority here?

Thankfully, the mythical $10G's will never see the light of day. I see the guy that caught Hurt's ball yesterday did the right thing...at least in my mind. He caught it, that's cool. To hold it from the person who it means the most to? Not cool. Mientkiewicz-ian, even.

But who am I to judge? A man's gotta make his way in the world...$1.29 at a time. Plus $2.75 shipping and handling, of course.