Lucky Fan Will Auction Historic Ripken Home Run Ball

The Baltimore Orioles fan who caught the home run ball Cal Ripken hit the night he tied Lou Gehrig’s consecutive game streak plans to sell the ball to the highest bidder.

Michael Stirn said Wednesday the ball has been put up for sale in a nationwide telephone auction that ends Friday at midnight.

‘It’s just a ball to me,” said Stirn, 32, a Sykesville carpenter.

Money from the ball will be used to pay off bills and “start a college fund for our kids because you really can’t share a ball with two kids,” he said.

Stirn caught the ball Sept. 5, the night Ripken played in his 2,130th consecutive game.

Ads for the auction were placed two weeks ago in Sports Collector’s Digest, a trade magazine. Sixty-one people have registered to make bids and four have phoned them in.

The bidding began at $9,000 and has risen to $12,100.