Just How Much is A-Rod's 500th Home Run Ball Worth?

The baseball Alex Rodriguez hit for his 500th home run may be worth as much as $100,000. Rodriguez is the youngest player to ever reach this milestone, and is a certain future Hall of Famer. The Yankees media relations director so far has been unsuccessful in his negotiations to get the ball back for Alex. His first offer included memorabilia from high-profile Yankees.

If the ball is valued at $100,000, one of those Yankees better be named Ruth or Gehrig.

from Jim Baumbach and Anthony Rieber of Newsday

Walter "Sonny" Kowalczyk awoke yesterday with an interesting and lucrative question to ponder: What should he do with the valuable baseball that Alex Rodriguez hit for his 500th career home run?

The 6-4, 230-pound Rutgers graduate student, who emerged from the scrum with that ball Saturday, could keep it for his own collection. He could sell it to one of those memorabilia collectors undoubtedly waving blank checks in his face. Or he could work out a deal with the Yankees on behalf of Rodriguez.

And A-Rod has made it clear he wants that ball.

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Alex Rodriguez: The $30 Million Man

The New York Yankees are reportedly breaking their own team rule, and negotiating an in-season contract extension with Alex Rodriguez. As amazing as it may sound, Rodriguez may opt out of his current contract even though he has approximately three years and $81 million left on the 10-year, $252-million deal he signed with Texas before the 2001 season.

Wallace Matthews of Newsday argues that not only do the Yankees have little chance of renewing A-Rod's contract, they risk upsetting their longtime stars Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada, with whom the Yankees will not discuss new contracts until the season is over.
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Joel Sherman of The New York Post claims that even if Rodriguez does not opt out of his contract after the season, stipulations exist in his current deal that guarantee Rodriguez's salary will climb to $32 million the 2009 and 2010 seasons.

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News Flash - A-Rod is no Jeter

Last night Alex Rodriguez hit his 493rd career home run, tying him with Lou Gehrig for 22nd on the all-time list. After the game, a reporter informed Rodriguez that he just tied Gehrig. A-Rod's response: an apathetic, "Cool."

Cool? Rodriguez sounded as if he couldn't care less that he just tied a Yankee legend. If Derek Jeter was in the same situation, I can guarantee that his answer would be along the lines of, "It's an honor to even be mentioned in the same sentence as Lou Gehrig."

Yet another reason why, depsite the incredible numbers Rodriguez puts up, Yankee fans have never warmed up to this guy.