"From what I hear, it was really tough even 10 to 20 years before that in the '70s and even in the '80s. And even if you want to go back a few generations before that, it was almost unheard of for a player to give away a ball to a fan. You would get one occasionally if there was a ball that was really scuffed up, but it's a lot better now to try to catch baseballs than it was back in the day."