The Ball

In the 1928 World Series a baseball was struck with such force that it cleared the backfield fence. The batter was Babe 'Bambino' Ruth and it was the last hit of the game, placing the New York Yankees at the top of the baseball world. Franklin T Williams, was the go-fer for the Yankees, doing clean up chores and running errands. He was black and 15 years old. Williams watched as the orb cleared the fence and knew intuitively that the ball was valuable. After a short search, he found it in the field. He showed it to the Babe and it is noticed that the ball has a dent in it: this has never been seen in a baseball before. The whole team ends up signing the ball, allowing Franklin to keep it. It is a high point in his life. For the moment, the ball drops out of the picture. Ten years later, Franklin is in his mid twenties and somewhat adrift so he joined the Army Rangers at the beginning of WWII. He became an instructor and rose in rank until being sent to Germany. While on patrol, he was wounded and hospitalized in England, he met a nurse named Lucy, who became his only true love. They married and had three children. Thomas, was the oldest, and he, in turn, had kids of his own. The oldest, Thomas Jr, was Franklin's grandson and wheel chair bound for life. He eventually became Franklin's best friend. At 14, Thomas Jr finds the long lost ball that his grandfather had found in 1928, but misplaced over the years. It has a lot of what appear to be chicken scratches on it, which turn out to be the signatures of the NY Yankees, increasing the value astronomically. Thomas and his best buddy, Stevo, do not know the ball's history or value, but decide to make copies of it. They sell one copy to Roger, a friend. Tim is Roger's dad and an avid Yankee fan: when shown the copy, he goes into a tailspin. He knew that there had never been a signed baseball from that era, so if a real one existed, it would be priceless. Enter Elvis the dog, a short legged Heinze mix whose favorite pastime is chewing up balls of all sorts. Elvis finds one of the copied baseballs and destroys it. The boys think that the real ball has been chewed up, but later discover that the original is still in one piece. At some point, Tim has a beer at a local bar and is overheard talking about the ball with the bartender. Two locals, Ted and Bob, are unsavory thieves and listening to Tim, form a plot to steal the ball. The next evening, they hide out in our heroes fort but are discovered by Elvis who begins to bark loud enough to raise the dead. The two miscreants break into Thomas's room and take the ball from him. Franklin is alerted by the noise Elvis is making and is quickly informed of the situation. Anticipating where Ted and Bob might be found, he enters the tavern and confronts them. In a matter of minutes the bad guys become aware that they have been discovered and prepare to beat the old black guy up. They discover that an angry Franklin can be very dangerous and both guys are thrown out the tavern windows. Several days later, Franklin and Tim have a long talk about the ball and it's relative value. The ball is conservatively worth over half a million dollars. Franklin offers it to Tim free of charge in trade for the operation that would get Thomas out of his wheel chair. Tim contacts a friend who is one of the top surgeons in the country and after a lot of discussion, the decision is made to do the trade. The ending is how all stories should wrap up: with a good feeling and Elvis headed for the bushes with a ball in his jaws.

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