Badgers Ball added to my '55AA customs

If you follow my blog regularly, you know I've recently been busy with custom cards in the format of the 1955 Topps All-American college football set.

My latest is a tribute to one of the Wisconsin Badgers' finest running backs, Montee Ball.

While he hasn't (yet) wowed the NFL in the same way he did the NCAA, it's still early in his pro career and there may be bigger things coming for him. Even if he never played another down in the NFL, however, his stature as one of the premier running backs in college ranks in the early 2010s earned him a spot on my checklist.

Where was Penn State's
 respect for Montee Ball?

The incident of Aaron's 200th hit going unmentioned in the ballpark that I detailed on this blog on Feb. 26 brings to mind a similar situation I encountered while in attendance at the Wisconsin-Penn State game on Nov. 24, 2012.

The Nittany Lions were hosting Wisconsin in the final game of the season. Badgers running back Montee Ball entered the game tied for the NCAA FBS major college record in career rushing touchdowns scored.

In the first quarter Ball broke the record with a 17-yard run; his 79th career TD. 

I waited in vain for the stadium announcement of Ball's feat. It never came; no announcement, no message on the score board, nothing. 

I'm sure that many of the fans were made aware of the accomplishment via their smart phones, tablets, etc., but I thought it was bush for Penn State to go mum on the subject.

About all I can figure is that the school didn't want to embarrass its defense by making public note that Ball had achieved his record on their watch.

Aaron's 2,000th-hit ball lost to history

At a ballgame in Philadelphia in 1964 one fan had a $10,000+ gift drop into his lap. Because the significance of the bequest went unrecognized, however, it has been lost to the hobby. 

No collector will ever be able to own the baseball that Hank Aaron hit for his 2,000th major league career hit on July 12, 1964.

It's likely that few of the 28,044 fans at the Sunday doubleheader at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia knew that the ball was something special if they happened to snag it as a foul ball later in the game.

Fact is, there was no announcement made in the stadium about the milestone.

Aaron's 2000th hit came in the top of the 7th inning of the second game of the twin-bill, off Phillies reliever Jack Baldschun. It was a line-drive RBI single to left field, scoring Eddie Mathews to pull the Braves ahead 5-2 in the game they would win 6-2.

It was Aaron's second hit of the game, and he had gone 2-for-5 in the opener.

Apparently nobody in the announcer's booth was doing a countdown to 2,0000 or realized the significance of Aaron's hit.

Aaron himself didn't initially recognize his milestone. He said later that he didn't realize it until the next inning when he heard it on the radio in the clubhouse. By then, presumably, the 2,000-hit ball had been fouled into the stands and was in the hands of an unsuspecting fan.

A belated announcement of the accomplishment was made in the stadium the next day.

In today's baseball memorabilia market, you know Aaron's 2,000th-hit ball would have decent collector value, but just how much? In Nov., 2013, the ball Stan Musial hit in 1952 for his 2,000th hit sold in a heritage auction for $13,145. I'd guess Aaron's milestone ball would bring something in advance of that figure.

Topps recognized Aaron's 2,000th-hit in 2013 in a Baseball Flashback insert card in its Heritage issue, "Hank Hammers Hot No. 2000".