An agreement reached between the team and Doug Mientkiewicz last January stated that the former first baseman would loan the ball to the Sox, but get it back at the end of 2005 "unless the ultimate issue of ownership has been otherwise resolved." Thus, the lawsuit.
I'm in the clear minority (see SoSH and Surviving Grady, for starters), but I believe (strongly) that the ball belongs to the Red Sox. Lucinda Treat, the club's chief legal officer, put it simply:
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.Someone at SoSH claimed that the team wouldn't push this hard if it was someone like Varitek or Schilling who had gloved the ball. Perhaps. But my gut tells me either of those two guys would have given it back, if asked.
I know previous World Series balls have been taken home by players (doesn't Mike Timlin have one of the Blue Jays' final outs from the early 90s?). The Red Sox World Series victory is different. More different -- and more historic -- than almost any other World Series championship in history. The ball belongs in Boston.
The Post says there are five teams hoping to trade for Manny Ramirez, the most prominent being the Mets and Angels. Texas has also been mentioned, with Alfonso Soriano as the main Ranger in the proposed deal. No thank you. Listen -- I'm yelling loud and clear from my rooftop: Keep Manny!
Jeff Horrigan writes that there "is support within the organization to deploy the combo of Alex Cora and rookie Dustin Pedroia at second base".
4 comments:
Comment spam! Even with word-verification! ARGGGHH!!!
yeah, that's the 2nd one i've had to delete.
i guess they figure my blog really brings in the customers!
Hmm, I have to disagree. Being a Boston fan, I do feel that our recent World Series Win was the most important one in say...oh well, ever. However, I'm certain that legally, this doesn't apply, as justice has no roots in fandom. It seems there is a great deal of history of players keeping these balls as personal mementos, and I don't know of any case where the team has requested the ball, outside of this one. Precendent would seem to dictate that teh Ball is the players, but in the end who really cares? You can't wear a ball around on your head that says "2004 WS Champs" and I have a hat that I can, and it's worth more to me than that ball ever could be worth. To me anyway. I'm sure sootheby's would disagree.
go to keepmanny.com to sign a petition to keep him on the team. see bill simmons' more cowbell from 12/1 for more details
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