We often joke about players being traded for a bag of balls, but in Kerry Ligtenberg's case, that's how he became a Brave.
Ligtenberg was pitching for the Minneapolis Loons of the independent Prairie League in 1995, a team of which former Braves catcher Greg Olson was the manager. In an interview with Talking Chop in 2010, Olson said Ligtenberg had three key intangibles: physical talent, tremendous work ethic, and mental toughness. He called the Braves and scheduled Kerry a tryout, and in January 1996 the Braves purchased Ligtenberg for $750 worth of baseball equipment; to be more precise, twelve dozen baseballs and two dozen bats.