Albert Pujols Not Focused on Recovering 700th HR Ball: 'Souvenirs Are for the Fans'

St. Louis Cardinals icon Albert Pujols said he's not concerned about trying to recover his 700th home run ball from the fan who caught it in the left field bleachers at Dodger Stadium on Friday night.

"Souvenirs are for the fans," Pujols told reporters. "If they wanna keep it, they can. At the end of the day, I don't focus on material stuff. I think I have the bat, the uniform, helmet, things that are special to me. At the end of the day, I think that's why the fans come here—to have a special moment of history. So if they wanna keep that baseball, I don't have any problem with that."

The future Hall of Famer hit two homers in the Cards' 11-0 win over the Dodgers, one in the third inning (No. 699) and then the milestone longball in the fourth.

Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported the fan who caught No. 700 had the ball authenticated before leaving the stadium. He was presented with offers by the Cardinals but decided to keep it, at least for now, per Fox Sports' Ben Verlander.

In 2005, Barry Bonds' 700th homer was sold at auction for $85,000, which is equivalent of just under $129,000 today when factoring for inflation.

Brandon Steiner, the founder of Steiner Sports Memorabilia, told Fox Business' Ryan Morik on Thursday he'd expect a sale price around the low six figures if Pujols' ball hits the block.

"I think it's a solid ball. Somebody in St. Louis could be more excited about that than necessarily nationwide ... I think it's a $100,000 ball, probably my guess," Steiner said.

Pujols became just the fourth player in MLB history to reach the 700-homer mark, joining Bonds (762), Hank Aaron (755) and Babe Ruth (714).

Meanwhile, a similar story will play out if New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge eventually reaches 62 home runs this season to set the new American league record. He currently has 60.

SCP Auctions' David Kohler told TMZ Sports on Wednesday the record-setting ball could go for over $500,000 and Judge's last homer of the season, if he goes beyond 62, could reach or exceed $1 million in auction value.

It's created some concern about fan safety, after a battle for Judge's 60th homer was caught on video, but there were no issues following Pujols' 700th in L.A. on Friday night.