Seized souvenir
Fan disputes ownership of disputed double
Posted: Friday September 25, 1998 02:38 PM
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Chapes also is fighting the trespassing fine he received when umpire Bob Davidson ruled he interfered with a ball in play AP |
MILWAUKEE (AP) -- The 31-year-old high school gym teacher who was at
the center of Mark McGwire's
disputed double last weekend wants his good name back -- along with the
baseball.
Michael Chapes, of Waterford, Wisconsin, sued Johnny Luna, 18, and
Gerald Digilio, 40, both of Queens, New York, in Milwaukee County Circuit
Court on Friday.
Chapes is seeking return of the souvenir ball that the St. Louis Cardinals'
slugger hit into the bleachers of left-center field at County Stadium on
Sunday.
"I had the ball in my mitt for a good six or so seconds but when I was
about to fall into the pit behind the outfield wall, I put my right hand on
the concrete to brace myself and the kid came up and snatched the ball out
of my glove," Chapes told The Associated Press.
Luna sprinted away with the ball. Digilio was attending the game with
his two sons, Luna and a fourth youth.
After Luna grabbed the ball, Digilio said: "We didn't come here to
give anything to Mark McGwire. He never came to Astoria to give us
anything. We came to catch the ball and sell it for the highest price."
Chapes' lawyer, Tom Boyd, of Racine, Wisconsin, said he wants
potential buyers to beware that there is a claim on the ball.
Chapes also is fighting the trespassing fine he received when
second-base umpire Bob Davidson ruled he interfered with a ball in play,
sending McGwire back to second with a ground-rule double instead of his
66th home run and Chapes out of County Stadium with a $518.50 citation.
Chapes must appear in court November 18, at which time he plans to ask
for a jury trial to fight the citation, Boyd said.
Chapes said if he gets the ball back, he wants to see if McGwire wants
it. But Boyd said McGwire might not ever want to see the ball again.
"For all I know he would want to throw it up in the air and hit it 600
yards into the woods," Boyd said.
The ball can be authenticated because it has a special mark seen under
infrared light.
The National League on Monday turned down the Cardinals' request to
reverse the umpire's ruling on the play.
Davidson ruled fan interference when he saw Chapes' mitt inch over the
yellow railing.
Chapes said the ball cleared the yellow line before the crush of fans
pushed him forward. He and another fan, who had his T-shirt in Chapes'
glove doubled over a chain-link fence about 18 inches behind the yellow
railing and into a pit, where Luna came up with the ball.
Chapes said he was sickened at becoming a footnote to the "Great Home
Run Chase of 1998" and worried about the disputed hit being a factor in
whether McGwire or Sammy Sosa ends
up the leader. Sosa tied McGwire at 65 by hitting two homers in
Milwaukee on Wednesday.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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