I was reading the story about Ryan Howard’s 200th home run ball and they linked to a Time article about the fate of the top 10 home run balls in history. Most of the stories are about how some rich guy now owns them and either sent them back to the player or to the Hall of Fame. But the first one is about Bill Maseroski and it’s a little different.

Leading off in the bottom of the ninth, Pittsburgh Pirate second baseman Bill Mazeroski hit a home run over the left-field wall to win the World Series against the New York Yankees. It was the first time a home run had ever ended a World Series. According to reports, Ted Szafranski, 13, caught the ball but returned it to Mazeroski after the game in exchange for two cases of beer. The ball has since been placed in the Hall of Fame.

I know that 1960 was a different time. But “The Maz” traded 2 cases of beer to a 13 year old boy and nobody thought twice about it? Those were the good old days.