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October 25, 2005

Where The Balls Are

USA Today is running a fun story on the final resting place of last out balls from recent World Series. Here's the Yankees info:

1996

• Where's the ball? Displayed in [Charlie] Hayes' living room.

1998

• Where's the ball? With [Tino] Martinez's glove in a safe-deposit box. "I'm never going to use the glove again," Martinez says.

1999

• Where's the ball? [Chad] Curtis gave it to a security guard, Dan Weiss, who helped Curtis and his family when they lived in New York. When Weiss said he wanted to give the ball back, Curtis said he autographed it, "To Dan," and said, "Now what am I going to do with a ball that says, 'To Dan?' He would have never sold it, but I wanted it to have value to him as a friend."

2000

• Where's the ball? [Bernie] Williams had it signed by his teammates and keeps it in his trophy case at home.

I'm a little down on Bernie for his comments on the 2000 ball:

Williams has the final-out ball from the Yankees' 2000 World Series win and said the team would have to win a court case to get it from him.

Too bad he wasn't as greedy with the ball from the 2001 World Series:

Yankees outfielder Bernie Williams picked up the ball and gave it to [Luis] Gonzalez, who gave it to team owner Jerry Colangelo. It was in Colangelo's desk drawer until he left the team last year. "I've been chasing that dream of a championship my whole life, as a competitor, an athlete and then in terms of management and ownership," Colangelo says. "It signifies the culmination of a lifetime pursuit."

I would rather have seen that ball blown up into a million pieces.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at October 25, 2005 10:37 AM

Comments

If its the same ball that Mo threw into center field, I agree completely SL. Otherwise I suppose the Diamondbacks are entitled to have a momento . . .

What a cool story. Wonder where the last balls of the '77 and '78 Series are?

Posted by: Shaun P. [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 25, 2005 11:20 AM

Mike Torrez caught the ball in 1977. Munson caught it in 1978. It would be interesting to see if they kept them - or if someone else has them.

Posted by: Steve Lombardi [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 25, 2005 11:39 AM

That comment Bernie made was on the heels of the brouhaha between Minky & the Red Sox.

I agree with Bernie that whomever gets the ball is entitled to do whatever he wants to do with it.

Posted by: Raf [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 25, 2005 03:03 PM