Tim Cook at WWDC: I’ll pay Brandon Moss baseball ransom

Steve Jobs was famous for playing hardball. Current Apple CEO Tim Cook is more benevolent with his baseball proclivities apparently.

During his opening remarks Monday morning at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, Cook told the story of Cleveland Indians slugger Brandon Moss, who hit his 100th homer on June 2.

Moss was unlucky on his milestone clout – he knocked it into the visiting Kansas City Royals’ bullpen. And the Royals were not above sportsmanship in Moss’ memento – the bullpen was holding the ball ransom. That’s where Cook comes into play.

Turns out the Royals’ pitching staff are a bunch of Apple fanboys and promised a return of the ball to Moss only after being provided an actual ransom note full of Apple gear – Watches, iPhones and the like.

Moss is only making about $1.4 million a year, so Cook stepped to the plate, offering to supply the wish list in order for Moss to get the purloined ball.

“We’re paying the ransom,” Cook told a cheering audience of nerds developers.

So, Moss gets to take his ball and go home happy while the Royals bullpen continues to get to own the Indians this season. Maybe there’s an app for that?