Father: Home run ball a valuable gift

NEW YORK, Oct. 8 (UPI) -- Father-of-four Steve Harshman says being the individual who nabbed the final home run ball hit at Yankee Stadium in New York is a valuable gift.

With the baseball expected to earn up to $200,000 at auction, Harshman said having snagged the $9 ball may help put his children through college one day, the New York Post said Wednesday.

"I'm not sure how much it's worth but my wife and I are both teachers and we have four kids," Harshman said.

Arlen Ettinger, whose guernseys.com Web site is auctioning off the baseball as part of an Oct. 18 sale, said $200,000 is likely the most Harshman can expect to earn from the ball he grabbed at the Sept. 21 game.

With such a large payout looming for Harshman, he told the Post how close he came to not catching the home run after it hit the left-center field netting.

"I actually had a camera strap on my wrist, and somehow had time to slide the camera, step behind my boys and grab it on a bounce through the netting," he told the newspaper.