Derek Jeter's 3,000th Hit: Christian Lopez Noble or Numbskull?

Derek Jeter's 3,000th hit was a thing a beauty. Facing a 3-2 count against Rays lefty David Price, there was a whack, a crack and a blot against the distant sky. It sailed on over the left-field fence, and then was lost to sight.

And then it was snagged by a young Bombers fan named Christian Lopez. While the Yankees captain rounded the bases, all Lopez could do was celebrate. He was, after all, in the possession of an object of considerable historical importance. But more importantly, he was holding onto a ball that was going to net him a huge pile of cash if he chose to sell it off.

Instead, Lopez gave the ball away for nothing, content to just be a part of the moment.

"I got to see history in the making, and now I'm part of history," said Lopez, according to the New York Daily News.

No argument there, but that's only because the argument is elsewhere. While everyone is quick to praise Lopez, a lifelong Yankees fan, for being selfless enough to give Jeter's 3,000th hit away for nothing, not everyone is willing to admit that they would have done the same thing had they been in Lopez's shoes.

Those who fancy themselves as noble are all for Lopez's decision. By giving up the ball, he essentially acknowledged that he didn't do anything special. The only thing he really did was be at the right place at the right time, and he wasn't even at the game by his own hand. His girlfriend was the one who bought him the tickets. All he had to do was sit down and reach out his hand, a series of actions not exactly deserving of a six-figure payday.

And then there's the other side of the fence, the side that recognizes the fact that the ball Lopez caught was worth as much as $250,000. Sure, he ended up getting a nice set of gifts in exchange for the ball, but the total package does not match the ball's worth. Lopez may have done the noble thing, but there are times when there is a fine line between nobility and stupidity.

If you ask me, the first group is the one that I suspect most people want to be a part of. It's easy to sit back and say, "Oh yeah, I would have given it up. It was the right decision." It was probably even easier to say something like this before the big moment came to pass, as I'm sure every baseball fan in the world had to at least once entertain the notion of securing Jeter's 3,000th hit. Giving it back for nothing would have been a sweet cherry on top of an even sweeter fantasy.

Easy to say, yes. But easy to do? Goodness no. Once he had the ball, you can rest assured that it did cross Lopez's mind that he wasn’t really holding a ball. No sir, the thing in his hand was financial security, something that all of us strive for and few of us achieve. That’s something that is not going to be lost on a 23-year-old still fresh out of college (I can vouch).

Yet Lopez still gave the ball up, and he seemed genuinely happy to do so.

Not all of us would have been able to do that. You don’t have to call Lopez noble if you don’t want, but don’t make the mistake of calling it stupid. He knew what he was doing.

That’s not worthy of a good scolding. But provided you’re into classic baseball gestures, it is worth a tip of your cap.