Cleveland Indians: Brandon Moss Gets Big Assist From Apple

Brandon Moss Will Get His 100th Home Run Ball Thanks to Apple

Last week, Brandon Moss‘ 100th career home run became national news. Unfortunately, it wasn’t for the feat itself, but rather for its aftermath.

To refresh your memory, Moss’ 100th career home run, which he hit in Kansas City, landed in the Indians bullpen. Because they’re such nice guys and knew an opportunity when they saw it, the Indians’ entire bullpen decided to hang on to the ball for safe keeping. Unfortunately for Moss, safekeeping meant holding the ball hostage and presenting him with a lengthy list of demands as ransom. If the ransom was paid, Moss would in turn receive the memento from his career milestone.

It wouldn’t come cheap, though. The list was a wish list of Apple products… and a 50-gallon drum of lube. That hand-written list, shared by the Indians Twitter account, spread like wildfire across the Internet, making national headlines all the while. To their credit, the Indians’ bullpen has held firmly to their stance on the matter and Moss is still without his keepsake.

Enter Apple and CEO Tim Cook.

On Monday at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, Cook revealed that the company would help out Brandon Moss and provide the items detailed in the ransom note. In a bit of a twist, Cook then held up the ball in question for all to see. As it turns out, the deal has been in place for a few days. The Indians have come out and said that an Apple representative visited the team last Friday to retrieve the ball and work out the details for providing the items.

For Brandon Moss, it is a happy ending. He will get back his 100th career home run ball and it apparently won’t cost him a cent to do so. For Apple, this turns into an excellent marketing opportunity and showing of goodwill. “See, look at us. Not all multi-billion dollar corporations are evil. We can have fun, too!”

What remains to be seen is whether or not this becomes a trend. Will other bullpens who just happen to catch milestone home runs attempt the same thing? What about fans? Will fans shift from a few autographed balls or a bat to I-Pads and 52-inch televisions? I don’t know, but if Apple really wants to steal my loyalty away from Android, I can be bought for the right price. How about an I-Pad give away sometime in the near future?

Unfortunately, one item that has gone unmentioned by everyone is the 50-gallon drum of lube. Apple removed it from the image of the list shown behind Cook and pretty much refuses to acknowledge it. Apparently I-Lube isn’t a thing yet. So far, no one has come forward to provide what is without question the funniest item on the list.

So KY Brands, if you’re reading this… Now’s your chance to steal some of the spotlight away from Astroglide.

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