Jeff Samardzija's blood is apparently a valuable commodity

So, this is weird and kind of gross.

Evidently, the Reds auctioned off a foul ball tainted (or blessed, depending on your perspective) by the blood of Cubs starter Jeff Samardzija.

Samardzija cut his hand during an April 24 game against the Reds when he tried to field a Shin-Soo Choo hopper. The starter let his wound bleed out a bit -- with blood getting on a ball in the process -- before pitching to Zach Cozart. Cozart fouled fouled the ball out of play during his at-bat.

The Reds then recovered the ball, put it up for auction and watched it sell for $130.01.

Let's do a little math:

A new official MLB baseball, new, costs $16.99.

You can buy a dozen game-used foul balls on eBay for $79.99.

That's $6.67 per foul ball.

That means a ball with Jeff Samardzija's blood has a VORB (Value over Replacement Ball, natch) of $106.35. The percentage of that which is attributable to Samardzija's blood is debatable -- after all, Cozart did foul the thing off.

The net proceeds of the auction go to charity, so at least the whole gory spectacle is for a good cause.

-- Dakota Gardner / MLB.com

(image via Reds.com)