The fan who caught the ball on Albert Pujols' 2,000th career RBI said Friday that he had changed his mind and would not be keeping the souvenir.
Pujols became only the third player in Major League Baseball history to drive in 2,000 or more runs in a career -- joining Alex Rodriguez (2,086) and Hank Aaron (2,297) -- with a solo home run in the Los Angeles Angels' win over the Detroit Tigers on Thursday at Comerica Park.
The fan, Ely Hydes, said Thursday that he had decided to keep the ball. However, he reversed course and told The Detroit News on Friday night that he will give the ball -- the first he has caught at a major league game -- to Pujols or the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
"I slept on it," Hydes told The Detroit News. "All I ever wanted was to sleep on it. I slept on it and I woke up and I think [Pujols] is a class act.
"He's not my player, he's not my guy -- I don't deserve the ball."
Hydes told the newspaper that he doesn't want any money for the ball, which can't be authenticated by Major League Baseball, and that he made his initial decision because of pressure from the Tigers' staff to hand it over. The Tigers disputed that, saying the staff "conducted themselves in a professional manner," according to The Detroit News.
Pujols had told reporters Thursday that he wasn't upset that the fan kept the ball, and he said Friday that Hydes could hang on to it.
"I heard that the guy wanted to give it back, but he can keep it," Pujols told reporters. "I said what I had to say yesterday. I think he deserves it. He's a fan. Or he can give it to the Hall of Fame."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
