Be careful with those signed baseballs - funny story in NY Times

[Runscott]

My grandfather had a ball autographed by a player at a game back in the '30s. He gave the ball to my mother, who at some point in her childhood spilled a container of black ink, and the ball sat in it. Result: no readable autograph(s). I found the ball in a box at my grandmother's house 10-15 years ago and even though it was a mess, since it had sentimental value to mom, I thought it was cool, and placed it in an open display case.

Several years later my ex-wife asked me to dog-sit her foxhound. One day I walked out of the room, and when I returned, the dog had gotten the ball out of the case, gnawed part of the cover to a pulp and then ripped off about half of it. He left the inked side alone. I still have the ball, but I can't imagine what visitors would think of it if I had it displayed.