Did Pete Crow-Armstrong Lie to Fans to Get Home Run Ball Back?

Chicago Cubs rookie Pete Crow-Armstrong recorded his first hit in the major leagues and it was a big one, crushing a game-winning two-run home run that led to a 3-1 win and a sweep over the Houston Astros on Thursday at Wrigley Field. PCA's first hit in MLB snapped his 0-for-14 streak to begin his big-league career and he was able to get the ball back in exchange for the signed bat that he used. However, that feel-good story may not be true.

A fan posted a picture on social media of PCA's home run ball and then provided an update that the Cubs number one prospect traded in his game-used bat for the ball. By the way, it's Caden Greco's picture, but he said it was one of his classmates who ended up catching Crow-Armstrong's home run in right field.

After that post went viral among Cubs fans, internet sleuths began to question whether or not that really was PCA's game-used bat.

Here's the side-by-side view of PCA swinging, when he hit the home run and the signed bat he returned to the fan.

On the postgame show on the Marquee Sports Network, PCA was asked about getting the HR ball back and he said the following:

"I did. There were four guys who came in and brought it down. Couldn't be too much younger than me and had a nice little chat. They were very nice to bring it down. I told them it meant a lot and they understood, so I appreciate it.
Yeah, we traded the bat for the ball, so I thought it was a fair enough."

Here's that clip from Marquee Sports Network via Cubs Zone.

I mean, if you want to give PCA the benefit of the doubt you can argue that he said "the bat" which I guess is vague enough to think maybe it wasn't the same one he used to hit the home run. Yet, what sucks is that it does seem like the group of fans who met with the Cubs outfielder were under the belief that the trade was for said bat used to hit the home run in exchange for the ball and now it doesn't actually seem to be the case.

Listen, you can argue all day long that fans shouldn't get anything back and that it's the right thing to do to give the ball back without expecting something in return. I don't agree with that, but that's a topic for a different day, however, in this case it's a bummer if PCA lied to those fans and said he was giving them something and it wasn't true.

Maybe there was some miscommunication here and I really do hope that's what happened instead of the alternative, which is PCA lying to fans.