In 1997, the Pittsfield Mets won it all. The minor league team sold almost 83,000 tickets at Wahconah Park on their championship run in the New York-Penn League. Fans flocked to see the dominant pitching of Scott Comer – who posted a 1.74 ERA and 98 strikeouts with a 7-1 record – and the hot bat of Juan Moreno, who finished the season with 83 hits and a .289 batting average. Six players would go on to become major leaguers. A relic from the Pittsfield Mets’ victorious campaign – a chunky gold championship ring with a “P” emblazoned over a blue backdrop – was stolen from an April 11 farewell ceremony for the historic but decrepit Wahconah Park, which is set for demolition. Days later, it reappeared under mysterious circumstances at the Baseball in the Berkshires new headquarters at the Lee Premium Outlets. Director Larry Moore explained to me how it all went down.
MOORE: The ring disappeared when we had it on display. It was way before showtime. Showtime wasn't until one o'clock, and the ring disappeared about quarter of 12. We were putting our cases together, and I was locking them, and we had two strangers that had walked by, and apparently somebody, either them or somebody else, lifted it. I went to the police afterwards and reported it. About, let's see, four days later, Thursday, the 16th, I was working here in our new location in the Lee Outlets, and my two other staff members, they left about 2 o'clock, and I was about to leave, but remembered I wanted to do some more arranging of uniforms and jackets we have hung from the ceiling, so I climbed the ladder and heard the door open like it has many times when we're here setting up. I just said, sorry, we're closed, and the person left, but my location didn't allow me to see, so I thought nothing of it and continued what I was doing. Got my jacket, got ready to leave, and on the way out, on the table by the door, there was the ring in the case.
WAMC: What was your reaction? I mean, I can't imagine what it's like to suddenly see the almost mythic item of a championship baseball ring just suddenly appearing.
I was shocked, but the same time, it made me feel very good. Not only that the ring was there, but it made you feel good about people fessing up and returning something they had taken.
It's such a funny thing to be a baseball historian of the Berkshires, maybe the preeminent baseball historian of the Berkshires, making you, to someone, the logical person. They didn't go to the police, they didn't go to the city, they went to you. I mean that, what does that say, do you think?
I think they felt that was a safe place to drop it. You see, you could see into the room from the from the sidewalk, and you could see where I was. So, I think they felt that maybe they could drop it off without much fanfare.
Is there any historical parallel to this? Has there been another time that a high-profile piece of baseball memorabilia so connected to the Berkshire has been the subject of a heist, so to speak?
No, never. And you know, Josh, how long we've been around, from Arrowhead to the Berkshire Mall for a couple years, then we've just done programs over and over, and I've never had anything lifted, ever.
What do you think a good takeaway from this is? I mean, as you say, it's not super common that someone appears to renege on their theft of something valuable. What do you think the takeaways are?
Well, it gives you faith in the human race once again, I think. Sometimes, with everything that's going on, and the violence here and things like that, it's nice to see something done that is meaning that people have feelings about other people and other things that maybe they didn't have when they first took it.
