Whatever Happened To Hank Aaron's 755th Home Run Ball?

Whatever Happened To Hank Aaron's 755th Home Run Ball?

According to the Los Angeles Times, Milwaukee Brewers groundskeeper and baseball fan Richard Arndt was the lucky grabber of Aaron's historic hit (though he had no idea it was historic at the time). Arndt claims that he intended to hand the ball back to Aaron after the game when he was summoned to the dugouts. But when he asked to see Aaron, he was told by an equipment manager that Aaron was busy and couldn't meet with him. The equipment manager allegedly offered Arndt a previously-autographed ball, bat, and a photo of Aaron, but Arndt declined, and kept his ball. The next day, the Brewers' management fired him and docked his final paycheck. "I'm sure everybody would have handled this much more diplomatically had it been Sept. 30 instead of July 20," Arndt said, "but everybody assumed he would hit more home runs. Nobody thought that would be his last home run."

After several tries to get Aaron to sign his ball and Aaron refusing, the Los Angeles Times reported that Arndt wound up keeping the ball in a safe deposit box in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he lived most of his adult life, for the better part of the next 22 years. One day in 1994, Arndt brought the ball to a show where Aaron was signing autographs; Aaron signed the ball, not realizing its significance, and then back to the box the ball went. This unfortunately but understandably caused bad blood on Aaron's side, as he felt he had been duped.