Red Sox Want 'Their' Ball Back

Red Sox officials took the World Series trophy throughout New England to share it with long-suffering fans. Now Doug Mientkiewicz wants them to see the ball he caught to clinch the team's first championship in 86 years.

As long as he can keep it.

Boston's backup first baseman and John Henry, the team's principal owner, spoke Friday but did not decide who gets the ball, which Mientkiewicz locked in a safe deposit box.

"We didn't discuss solutions," Henry said in an e-mail Friday night to The Associated Press. "I just wanted to listen to what his feelings were with regard to all of this. I have a great deal of respect for Doug."

Mientkiewicz said he had a "nice conversation" with Henry but told WEEI-AM he wants to keep the ball.

"Of course I want Red Sox fans to see the ball," he told the radio station. "The main reason why I hung on to the darn thing is because I want people to see it."

Mientkiewicz and his father, who both live in the Miami area, did not return phone calls seeking comment. A woman who answered the door at the player's Coral Gables home said Mientkiewicz was not there.

Mike Martin coached Mientkiewicz at Florida State from 1993-95 and is convinced the player won't sell the ball for personal gain.

"There's not a selfish bone in the guy's body," said Martin, in his 26th year as head coach of the Seminoles. "He was one of the most popular players to ever play here. He also was a guy who was a fan favorite in Minnesota. He's also very community oriented and I'm sure that's the case in the city of Boston."

The Red Sox obtained the slick-fielding Mientkiewicz from the Twins at the July 31 trade deadline. He was a late-inning replacement in each of the four World Series games after being a starter for the previous three seasons.

Boston led 3-0 in Game 4 in St. Louis when Mientkiewicz entered in the bottom of the seventh inning. He didn't handle the ball until there were two outs in the ninth. Shortstop Edgar Renteria grounded it back to the mound. Pitcher Keith Foulke trotted toward first and underhanded the ball to Mientkiewicz.

With the ball in his grasp, Mientkiewicz raised his right index finger in triumph and rushed to the mass of celebrating players. In the locker room, he gave the ball to his wife, Jodi, who put it in her purse then brought it to Fenway Park the next day, where it was authenticated by major league baseball officials.

On the same day that Mientkiewicz squeezed the final out in his glove, the ball Barry Bonds hit for his 700th home run brought a top bid of $804,129 after a 10-day online auction.

Mientkiewicz was quoted in The Boston Globe on Friday as saying the ball was "my retirement fund" and said "I hope I don't have to use it for the money. It would be cool if we have kids someday to have it stay in our family for a long time."

He told WEEI that he was kidding about the possibility of making money from the souvenir.

Team president Larry Lucchino wants the team to have it.

"We want it to be part of Red Sox archives or museums so it can be shared with the fans," he told the Globe. "We would hope he would understand the historical nature of it."

Mientkiewicz, unhappy as a part-time player last season, is set to make $3.75 million in the final year of his two-year contract. The team has an option to renew it at $4 million for 2006 but has said it intends to trade Mientkiewicz or its other first baseman, Kevin Millar, before spring training.

Even if he leaves and takes the ball with him, Mientkiewicz wants to share it with Boston fans.

"It belongs in the stadium where we brought it home to, and if they would like to see it then I'd be more than happy to," he told WEEI. "That's part of history and I think people have waited long enough. They deserve to see it."