My dad was the manager of the apartment complex I grew up in and there was an older man named Franz that my parents took care of. We’d take him dinner every night, include him in our holiday events, etc.. It was his ball and he gave it to my dad before he passed away.
It meant a lot to Franz because he caught it at a game when he was a kid and got Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig to sign it. From then on, he took it to every game he ever went to and tried to get signatures. He would hold it every night as he watched tv, so now it looks a little rough.