No Pedro. No Theo. Possibly no Manny or Damon. And the Red Sox want to fight over a baseball used for two pitches.
Posted on 12/01/2005 1:02:44 PM PST by Airborne1986
Sox play tough on memento Lawyers file suit for '04 Series ball By Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff
To Red Sox fans, it is priceless -- the baseball that Keith Foulke flipped to Doug Mientkiewicz on an October night in St. Louis last year to clinch the team's first World Series championship in 86 years.
Now, 13 months after Mientkiewicz pocketed the ball, the team is playing hardball. Lawyers for the Red Sox filed suit yesterday in Suffolk Superior Court seeking permanent possession of the cherished symbol of suffering redeemed.
When the team first tried to claim it, the light-hitting but slick-fielding first baseman created a furor in Red Sox Nation by refusing to give it up.
In January, days after he was traded to the New York Mets, he and the team announced that the Red Sox would hold the ball temporarily and could display it across New England, along with the World Series trophy. But the agreement said he would get it back at the end of this year ''unless the ultimate issue of ownership has been otherwise resolved."
That clause led Red Sox lawyer John G. Fabiano to the Suffolk civil clerk's office yesterday. The suit asks the court to place the ball in a ''secure location" until ownership is decided.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
No Pedro. No Theo. Possibly no Manny or Damon. And the Red Sox want to fight over a baseball used for two pitches.
Who needs a GM anyway? Barf.
ping
In January, days after he was traded to the New York Mets, he should have dumped the ball into the Hudson River
Lighten-up on'em... it'll be another 100 years til they get another.
Better time spent to take title and possession of Ted Williams' head. At least there's a whole career in there and just not one season.
"Better time spent to take title and possession of Ted Williams' head. At least there's a whole career in there and just not one season."
Perhaps they can thaw him out one day to replace Manny.
I'm not understanding why the Red Sox say the ball belongs to them.
When a rookie gets his first major league hit - he gets the ball. First HR - he gets the ball. Record breaking hit - player gets the ball.
What makes this ball different? Does MLB own all post-season balls?
No team has had a 100 year drought but the Cubs are getting very close.
Teddy Baseball would never play left field at Fenway, as Manny does. Right field all the way (number 9).
Gosh, maybe they think it belongs to them because they paid for it?
Balls hit into the stands, are lost, that is the price of playing in open stadiums. But balls on the field belong to the team (IMHO) until such time as it is determined (by the umpire) that the ball is no longer usable for game purposes. Those balls, btw, are retained by the team for batting practice and other uses.
As to the balls you mention, those are 'given' to the player because they have value only to him. This ball had value to the whole team. The ball was never 'owned' by the pitcher, to be given to another player.
"I'm not understanding why the Red Sox say the ball belongs to them."
I don't either. The home team provides the baseballs for a MLB game. Game 4 of the 2004 World Series was in St. Louis. Even if it was the league that provided the balls, I do not know how that translates into the ball being Red Sox property. I think the league has taken the position that they don't care who keeps the ball. When this first came-up, USA Today did a story on what has happened to other last out World Series balls. Almost all of them were retained by a player without incident.
"Teddy Baseball would never play left field at Fenway"
There are fewer people in left to flip the bird at. :o)
I don't think so. When Joe Carter hit the second walk off homer to end a World Series in 1993 (Mazeroski in 1960 was the only other) it landed in the Blue Jays bullpen and the coach brought it in to the celebrating clubhouse and handed it over to Joe. Joe has kept it and there was never any ownership dispute over it. His bat was sent to the Hall of Fame however.
Post Season game balls are a special order made by Major League Baseball and the teams are allotted them. Since the ball remained in the field of play, it still belongs to MLB.
The game was in St. Louis so the ball actually was paid for by them.
you paid for the ball in the first place?
Plus the game ball was never offered to the star player of the game so the last one with it in their glove keeps it.
meant to say "who" paid for the ball...
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