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December 02, 2006

Vermont Man On Ruth Quest

From the Bennington Banner -

Harold Rowe's time machine is a baseball.

Its leather cover is scuffed and tattered, its red stitches frayed. But such wear is to be expected, says Rowe, from something that has travelled so far.

For if his faith is justified, this life-long area resident has in his possession the greatest lost treasure in the history of the game, the most sought-after piece of memorabilia in existence, baseball's own Holy Grail.

Harold Rowe believes that Babe Ruth's called shot landed in his sock drawer.

The story of how Rowe came to find his baseball is rather ordinary, even if some of the details have been clouded by the passage of time. Following his retirement after 24 years on the road as a salesman, Rowe and his wife Audrey became fixtures on the local tag sale scene.

At one particular sale back in 1988, Rowe found a cardboard box full of plastic ice cream containers, which he figured to implement in organizing the various nails and screws that were cluttering up his garage.

It wasn't until several months later that Rowe went through those containers, and found an old baseball stashed in the bottom of one. "I've never been a baseball fan, so I had no idea what it might be," he said. "I stuck it in my sock drawer, and left it there - untouched - for the last 18 years."

What brought Rowe's ball back out was a March 26 article in USA Weekend magazine, titled "Baseball's Lost Treasures." In the article, sports memorabilia experts revealed the "top five Holy Grails of America's pastime," and what these missing artifacts would likely fetch in today's frenzied open market.

At the top of the list, with an estimated value of $2 million, was the Babe Ruth called-shot baseball. Suddenly, Harold Rowe was very much interested in the baseball in his bureau.

"Since the day that article came out, there isn't a day that goes by when I'm not looking into it," said Rowe of his ball. "I've studied it and studied it, photographed it, researched it. For the last 10 months, I've spent every day on this sort of treasure hunt."

He fully intends to keep up his quest for validation, hoping that science can provide the authentication that the industry's experts cannot, or will not. He wonders whether the ball can be carbon-dated, or have some sort of special infrared dye applied to it that will bring out even more clues as to its origin.

He is sure that someone somewhere has the means to confirm the idea that keeps him up at night, hunched over his slide viewer, studying every square inch of his baseball over and over again.

"I know in my heart that this is the ball that everyone is looking for," Rowe said. "I've stared at it for hours, and it still gives me goosebumps.

"People are quick to say this ball is not the real thing, but I think that's a mistake. If nobody believes in this thing, it's never going to be found."

Shoot, I would just be happy to find the "La Lob" ball that Yankee Dave LaRoche used to whiff Milwaukee's Gorman Thomas during the second game of a double-header in the Bronx on September 9, 1981.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at December 2, 2006 09:13 AM

Comments

Posted by: David Pinto at December 2, 2006 12:11 PM

Posted by: Paul at December 2, 2006 12:13 PM

Posted by: DFLNJ at December 2, 2006 06:20 PM