False Alarm / World Records - S1-E17
Continuity mistake: In "World Records", during Arnold's inspirational speech on the stoop of the boarding house, Gerald is sitting on the railing. He changes positions from sitting facing Arnold on the steps to facing the street between shots.
Answer: The episode doesn't really elaborate on who the kid was and what his motives were, so its pure speculation as to why he took it. Perhaps the kid could simply want a ball all for himself and decided to just take it, or was simply a rotten kid. The truth is the kid's motives are not important to the story other than it highlights Arnold was having a lot of trouble getting through the list.
Lummie ★