As Colts fan discovers with Giants’ helmet, finders can’t always keep in-game souvenirs

Foul balls are good souvenirs, helmets not so much

Finders, keepers. For some things, anyway.

There are few hard and fast rules for what fans can and can’t keep when balls, bats and other pieces of equipment find their way into the stands at sporting events. Foul balls, for example, are fair game for those fans who get a mitt on them. The helmet of New York Giants running back Brandon Jacobs is not, as one Indianapolis Colts fan discovered Sunday night.

Jacobs’ helmet landed in the stands after he tried to throw it to the ground during the third quarter of New York’s 38-14 loss to the Colts. Video shows a fan in a Colts hat and jersey holding tight to the helmet when a security guard tried to retrieve it. He wouldn’t let go until a uniformed officer arrived.

The NFL doesn’t have specific rules governing what fans can keep, spokesman Greg Aiello said, calling it a matter of “common sense.” No fuss is made when a player throws a ball into the stands — or keeps it, as Michael Vick appeared to do after throwing for a touchdown Sunday afternoon in his first start at quarterback since serving an 18-month prison sentence for his role in a dogfighting operation.

But if a player or team thinks it’s an item worth keeping — and helmets are kind of important — “presumably an effort would be made to retrieve the item,” Aiello said.

Baseball gave up trying to retrieve foul balls long ago, and some fans even bring gloves to the game to improve their odds of catching one. Stray bats are a little different because each player has his own, but fans will usually get another bat or something else in return for giving up their souvenir.

The NBA’s goal is to finish a game with the same ball it started with, and fans rarely even hesitate before handing it back to the referee. Ditto in soccer. In fact, fans at English Premier League games are often jeered if they’re not quick enough to toss a ball back to the sidelines.

Phil Mickelson has had enough balls go into the gallery over the years that he keeps a stash of gloves in his bag to sign and give to fans who come in contact with one of his shots.

The U.S. Tennis Association used to ask fans to toss back fly balls that wound up in the seats at the U.S. Open. But the USTA changed its policy in 2005, with spokesman Chris Widmaier saying at the time, “We figured if you could keep foul balls hit into the stands across the street at Shea Stadium, why not in Arthur Ashe?”

Andy Roddick has gone one better. As he walked off the court following his second-round upset at this year’s Open, the 2003 champion pulled all of his unused rackets out of his bag and tossed them to fans in the stands.

AP Tennis Writer Howard Fendrich, AP Baseball Writer Ben Walker and AP Sports Writer Rachel Cohen contributed to this report.