http://www.cooganresearchgroup.com/crg/index.htm 15 December 2012 COOGAN story _______________________________________________________________________ appearing in "Cincinnati Enquirer", 10 APR 2000 FAN TURNS DOWN $1,000, GIVES BALL TO GRIFFEY By John Fay Brady Coogan bobbled it a bit but hung on - to the souvenir of the year. He'd just caught the first home-run ball Ken Griffey Jr. hit as a Red. The two-run homer came during the Reds' 8-7, 11-inning victory over the Chicago Cubs Sunday at Cinergy Field. Shortly after catching the ball, Coogan was offered $500, the $1,000, from a collector seeking to add it to his collection. But Coogan wasn't in it for the money. "I wanted Griffey or the Reds to have it," he said. "I wasn't going to sell it to someone I didn't know. Griffey didn't hold out for a lot of money to come to the Reds. Why should I?" Coogan gave the ball to Reds publicity director Rob Butcher, who promised a Griffey autographed ball and bat in exchange. Griffey gave the signed bat and ball to Coogan after the game. Griffey said that he planned to give the ball to his mother, Birdie. "That's how it works," he said. "She gets most of them. I keep a few." Coogan, 31, works in the auditing department at Fifth Third Bank and lives in Fort Thomas. _______________________________________________________________________ appearing in "Cincinnati Post", 11 APR 2000 UNSELFISH FAN WINS ADMIRERS Column by The Post's Bill Koch On the morning after, Brady Coogan had no regrets, no second thoughts. He didn't wake up Monday looking to beat his head against a rock because he chose not to cash in on Ken Griffey Jr.'s first home run as a Red. He was sure he had done the right thing when he turned over the ball to Griffey in exchange for an autographed bat and ball and the chance to meet the center fielder. But while Coogan was encountering his splash of media attention, the rest of us were wondering: Is there something wrong with this guy? Coogan is 31 years old and works downtown at Fifth Third Bank in the audit division. He has four season tickets in the right-field, plaza- level green seats at Cinergy Field that he bought before the Reds traded for Junior back in February. In the sixth inning of Sunday's game against the Chicago Cubs, Griffey launched a fly ball into those seats for the 399th home run of his career. "It came right to me," Coogan said. "All I had to do was stand up. I bobbled it, but I didn't have to fight for it or anything." Before Coogan realized what had happened, someone was waving five $100 bills in his face. Five hundred dollars for a baseball. Coogan said no. "I was saying no more from the fact that I didn't know what was going on at the time," he said. "He was there at the same time an usher was telling me the Reds wanted to talk to me." Five hundred dollars became $1,000. Coogan said no again. He wasn't interested in selling the ball. Junior should have it. "I figured that's who it belongs to," Coogan said. Besides, he and his buddies had agreed on Opening Day that if they retrieved the ball from a Griffey home run, they would return it, no questions asked. There would be no holding Junior and the Reds hostage for money. The usher escorted Coogan to the press elevator where someone - he said it might have been the same guy - made another offer. This time it was for $10,000. Again, Coogan declined. Which raises the question: Is it still possible to be a decent guy trying to do the right thing in America in the year 2000 and not be considered naive or foolish? Coogan would like to think that we haven't all become so cynical, so preoccupied with money that we feel required to stick it to the millionaire players when we get the chance. "Like a friend that works with me said, 'If you take the money you spend it, then what have you got'?" Coogan said. "Now I have a bat and ball and a signed jersey that I can hang in my house forever." At work the reaction was mixed. Some thought what he had done a noble gesture. Others said he should have taken the money. "Those would be non-baseball fans," he said. Coogan figures he received a heck of a deal. Not only did he get the autographed ball and bat, he also had Junior sign the Griffey uniform jersey he was wearing, rode down the elevator with general manager Jim Bowden, then met Junior after the game. Junior shook Coogan's hand and thanked him for giving him the ball, which he presented to his mother, Birdie, for her collection. Coogan, who played baseball for St. Xavier High School, played against Junior during his senior year in 1987. He remembers Junior lying in the center field grass during the game. "When people would hit the ball, he'd get up and chase it down," Coogan said. "I told him about that and he remembered. He said, 'I was sick that day. I ate some bad sunflower seeds.'" Imagine that. There was Brady Coogan of Fort Thomas, Ky., shooting the breeze with the best player in baseball. Who knows? Maybe 10 years from now, Coogan will be sitting in those same seats when Junior hits his record breaking 756th home run. And maybe Coogan will get that one, too, as some sort of cosmic reward for being a good guy on that April afternoon in the year 2000. What would Coogan do with that ball? Would be give it to Junior or the Hall of Fame in exchange for another bat and ball and a handshake? Or would he be tempted by a more lucrative financial offer than the ones he turned down Sunday? Said Coogan: "I'd had to see what they offered for it, I guess." He'd be crazy not to.