2004 World Series Ball

http://www.boston.com/sports/basebal...gh_on_memento/

Sox play tough on memento
Lawyers file suit for '04 Series ball
By Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff | December 1, 2005

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.

The club's legal team said that Mientkiewicz had gained possession of the ball only because he was a Red Sox employee and that the ball remained the team's property. He played for the New York Mets last season, then was released, and is now a free agent.

Neither Mientkiewicz nor officials at the Major League Baseball Players Association could be reached for comment last night. He has said he never expected the controversy surrounding the ball.

Similar famous baseballs have fetched six figures in auctions. But the Red Sox insisted that money has nothing to do with the fight.

''From our perspective, it is very important that an artifact with this much history -- it was 86 years in the making -- be part of the club archive and be available for fans to experience," Lucinda Treat, the team's chief legal officer, said in an interview.

Other disputes over ownership of historic baseballs have led to lawsuits, including a fight between two fans over Barry Bonds's record-setting 73d home run in 2001. But Treat said she was aware of only one other case where a team has sued a member of the organization over a memento -- the Baltimore Orioles lineup card in the 1995 game when Cal Ripken Jr. broke Lou Gehrig's consecutive-games-played streak. The Orioles and former manager Phil Regan reached an out-of-court settlement that allowed Regan to sell the souvenir.

Mientkiewicz drew support from some sports fans in Boston.

Andy Papertsian, owner of Bay State Coin Co., which sells sports memorabilia such as autographed baseballs in downtown Boston, accused the team of breaking its word and called Red Sox management ''small minded."

Papertsian said the team would never have sued Mientkiewicz if he had been a star and had not left after the 2004 season. But Treat dismissed such suggestions.

''It has nothing to do with who the player was or anything of a personal nature," she said. ''It's all about a treasured, historically significant item."

Papertsian said the ball would certainly fetch a princely sum on the open market.

''There's always one person out there willing to pay a ridiculous sum for something like that because he'll have the only one of it," he said.

The ball that went between the legs of Sox first baseman Bill Buckner in the 1986 World Series was ultimately bought by actor Charlie Sheen for $93,500.

In 1999, former Cincinnati Reds left fielder George Foster came forward with the ball that Sox catcher Carlton Fisk hit off the foul pole in Game 6 of the 1975 World Series. That sold for $113,273.

The priciest ball of all time is the one hit in 1998 by St. Louis Cardinal slugger Mark McGwire for his record 70th home run, selling for $3 million.

Brian Demers, a 42-year-old Red Sox fan from Needham who works in the telecommunications industry, said the whole flap was silly.

''Although the ball may have some historic value, I don't think it's worth fighting over," he said. ''At the end of the day, they won the World Series."

The Sox are low. I still cannot believe that any professional organization would try and pull this sort of thing on a player (and publicly too.). They never even gave the ball a second thought until some time later when Boston Globe sports writer Dan "shank" Shaughnessy wrote an article and wondered where the ball went. Suddenly Boston wanted it. I guess The Who had it right, "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss." This new group has quickly turned into a pack of money grubbing, vicious jackals. On a side note, The Red Sox generously announced that many ticket prices would not go up this season. Trouble is, the seats that wont see another price hike are the bad seats that no one (well, mostly) will pay another seasonally inflated price hike for. They are the old seats that don't face the field directly, or are small and uncomfortable. Gee, what a swell bunch of guys we got! :rolleyes:

And furthermore........ Enough with the Red Sox nation cr@p already! Where were these "fans" when Boston wasn't so good? How many fans at a Sox game nowadays would actually know who Bobby Doerr, Jim Piersall, Joe Wood were? Do you think any of them remember Luis Rivera? Carlos Quintana? Carney Lansford? I doubt it. Yes I'm annoyed by the new fans. They see your Boston hat and try and talk baseball but they don't know much beyond two or three seasons ago. It kills me. :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by michaelg123789

The club's legal team said that Mientkiewicz had gained possession of the ball only because he was a Red Sox employee and that the ball remained the team's property.

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I think the above is a pretty reasonable legal argument.

I also think both the Sox and Mientkiewicz are being petty about the whole thing, though.

But since when has a team tried to get back a souvenier ball? Did the Cards or Giants go to court over McGwire's or Bonds's homerun balls? How about the last ball from a perfect game? Did Boston try and grab Lowe's or Nomo's no-hit balls? The answer is no. Is Boston in possesion of either of Roger Clemens's 21 K balls? Again, no. This should be no different.

I said 'Destroy It' because it was the closest I could find to:

1) Minky gives the ball back to the Red Sox.
2) The Sox auction the ball for charity, generating some great PR (instead of all this petty ****).
3) The Red Sox slip Minky some cash to thank him for making them look good.

Red Sox players like Manny, Pedro and Papi give more to charity in one year than the ball is worth. And the Sox aren't even defending World Champions
anymore.

The Sox probably have the law on their side, EXCEPT that fans catching home run balls and being allowed to keep them has set a de facto precedent (at least culturally if not legally). So Minky should have just tossed the ball to a friend of his in the stands at the end of the game...

Clay

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Originally Posted by robinhoodnik

But since when has a team tried to get back a souvenier ball? Did the Cards or Giants go to court over McGwire's or Bonds's homerun balls? How about the last ball from a perfect game? Did Boston try and grab Lowe's or Nomo's no-hit balls? The answer is no. Is Boston in possesion of either of Roger Clemens's 21 K balls? Again, no. This should be no different.

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I see your point, but on the other hand the balls you mention are souveniers of outstanding individual achievements. The Red Sox winning it all for the first time since Woodrow Wilson was President wasn't an individual achievement of Doug Mientkiewicz.

Why are these threads getting bumped?

I don't know whose during it. They aren't posting just voting. Don't know. We should have automatic 3 week or less limits on how long a poll should stay open. I time limit mine so they won't get unnecessarily get bumped.

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Originally Posted by RickD

I don't know whose during it. They aren't posting just voting. Don't know. We should have automatic 3 week or less limits on how long a poll should stay open. I time limit mine so they won't get unnecessarily get bumped.

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I will be unbelievably suprised if it isn't either metsguy, RSR, or twins gm

Wasn't me... get a mod to check... I did not vote in this poll

My votes for RSR.

lol!!

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Originally Posted by YEAH DAAAAWG

My votes for RSR.

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WRONG! I was not on when this got bumped. I have better things to do then bump up old polls. No, I did not do this. And I am getting really tired of people doing it. I think Howardryan used to do it, but he got banned, so idk who is

I think mods have a way to figure out who voted for what... so when a mod comes in here we might be able to track down who is doing this.