I may be in the minority, but I'll go ahead and stand up for Nick to some extent here. I met Nick about two years ago and still maintain contact with him despite the fact that I recently moved back to Florida. I have not spoken to Nick about the Coghlen home run ball, so I haven't heard his side of the story. I've sat next to Nick at over 20 ballgames and have observed him on over a hundred occassions as a former MBBC employee. I have never once observed him "run over" or "push" any children, senior citizens, or otherwise out of the way to get a ball. I've also observed him on a few occassions while he was on-duty (yes, he's a real cop, not a mall cop as someone suggested) and he was nothing but professional in those instances. In this particular instance, I think you have to step outside the box a little bit and not think of the ball as you would think of it, as many of you stated it would have no value to you. As a collector of home run balls, this ball has "value" to Nick and likewise it obviously had "value" to Coghlen. If not, Coghlen wouldn't have asked for it back. I personally was watching the FSN Florida feed last night and they interviewed Nick around the 6th inning and asked him what it would take to get the ball back and Nick replied that he was "waiting for the authenticator to come down and authenticate the ball". Nick then stated that all he wanted was a Hanley Ramirez game used bat. I don't know what transpired afterwards, but I'll admit if the Miami Herald article is accurate, that's not a very heartwarming story, friend or not. But I don't think a Ramirez game used bat is all that much to ask for in return for a home run ball. It's simple supply and demand, if Coghlen doesn't want to bother to pester Ramirez for one of his two dozen game used bats at the moment, then apparently the value isn't worth it to him. I'm sure Nick would have been more than happy to just hang onto the ball and keep it next to his other 40+ balls on the shelf. But apparently, Coghlen and the Marlins officials could not let it go and kept pestering him. Similiar to the Jenkins situation in which Brewers officials kept pestering Nick despite repeated attempts of Nick telling them he would just keep the ball and go home. I don't fault Nick for asking of something in value in return for a home run ball. A picture of Coghlen? An autographed ball of Coghlen? I'm not a huge collector of things, but if I was, I don't think those things would be very enticing. All I want is a game used Ramirez bat doesn't seem like an out of this world request. But I must add Nick, should you be reading this, that I beg of you to stop wearing the paraphernalia of other teams. Stick with what you do best in catching home run balls. Getting 10 balls tossed to you by the bullpen catcher from Florida is lame.