When Tom Clay pulled into a gas station the other day he got a surprise – and he said it wasn’t that he had to “give my first born to get a gallon of gas.”
There were five or six bikers around, trying to get respite from the rain. A man came over to him and, without introducing himself, said “I’ve got something I want you to have. I figured it was a fish net or lure or something. Then he said, ‘I have a signed baseball for the entire Cincinnati Reds baseball team from the early 1960s. I wanna give it to you.’”
Clay said, “Can you give me a lottery ticket, too?”
The man was Brent Dickison, who grew up across the road from Clay’s grandfather. Dickison, now 56, told Clay he had received the baseball years ago while playing outside as a child.
“Clay said Dickison told him my grandfather came outside with the baseball and wanted to give it to him,” Clay said.
The story only deepened the mystery.
“The surprise to me is, I don’t think my grandpa is a Reds’ fan,” Clay said. “Shelby Jean, his sister, she is a Reds’ fan. Shelby took her older brother, Randy, to Crosley Field. If the ball came from there, I don’t know. I know dad went to Crosley Field and took his mother. I don’t recall the ball being on the mantle or anything.”
A few days later, Dickison tracked Clay down again and handed over the baseball.
That’s when the detective work began.
Clay started comparing signatures against old Reds rosters and quickly realized the ball wasn’t from the 1961 National League pennant-winning team, as he first suspected. The giveaway was pitcher Jim Maloney’s signature. Maloney was a rookie in 1962, and the rest of the names lined up with that season’s roster.
The baseball includes signatures from Reds legends such as Frank Robinson, Vada Pinson, Joe Nuxhall and manager Fred Hutchinson. Despite being yellowed with age, Clay said the ball remains in remarkably good condition for being 64 years old.
Being a fan of “Antique Roadshow,” Clay naturally looked into what the baseball might be worth. Thanks in part to the Robinson and Hutchinson signatures, he found estimates ranging from $750 to $1,000.
“Of course, that’s if you can find somebody who will give you that much for it,” Clay said.
The baseball also led to a little good-natured family humor.
Clay told his mother about the discovery, and she had her own response.
“Does this make up for me throwing away all your ball cards?” she told him.
Clay said he appreciated Dickison thinking enough of him to return the baseball after all these years. Not many people stop at a gas station and leave with a piece of family history.
And even with today’s prices, that’s worth more than a gallon of gas.
MARK MY WORDS 2 