A cautionary tale when working on push rods

That is some bad luck right there! How did the ball end not seat itself when placed down there? Seems it would naturally want to seek its lowest point ( seat) under tension as those lifters are like bowls on top. The small seat lifters were OEM pre 68 iirc but many have used them with later pushrods and vice versa. Doesn't make it right but they still work. Bummer