The Million Dollar Baseball By Christian Stoltz
Hi, I’m Logan and I’m going to tell you how my friends and I saved a baseball that was worth a million dollars. It’s worth a million dollars because it was Babe Ruth’s first home run ball in the major leagues. It all started when me and my friends went to the Baseball Hall of Fame museum in Cooperstown, New York. “Hey guys check this out!” said Alex. “What? It’s just a baseball from the major leagues,” said Matt. “ No, It’s Babe Ruth’s first home run ball in the majors!” said Alex. I didn’t believe them so I went over there to see for my own eyes. It wasn’t a far walk from them because I was just a couple artifacts away looking at some Hall of Fame people, so it took about ten seconds to get there. When I got there I couldn’t believe it, it really was his first home run ball in the majors. All three of us haven't been so amazed in our entire lives, and we’re thirteen. “Wow!” I said. “Yeah I know, it’s awesome” said Alex. “It must be worth a million bucks,” said Matt. “Probably!” said Alex. About five seconds later while all of us were staring at the ball my mom said. “All right, it’s time to go.” “Can we please have another minute,” I said. “Okay, but stay close to the door,” she said. “We will,” we all said. Luckily, the baseball we were look looking at was pretty close to the door, so we still got to look at the ball. We all couldn’t stop staring at it, not only because it was hit by Babe Ruth, but it was his first
home run ball! “All right your minute’s up, lets go” my mom said. “Okay,” I said. “Come on guys lets go!” I yelled to them. “Okay,” they said. We had to park on the whole other side of the parking lot, so we had to drag ourselves to the whole other side. We told my mom all about the baseball on the way to the car, but we were all talking over each other. By the time we got to the car we were all finished, but I don’t think she really understood us correctly because of all of us talking at once. We lived about half an hour from the hall of fame, so it was about a half hour drive back. All we talked about on the drive home was them coming over to my house, and what we were going to do once we got there. Once we finally got home, and Matt, Alex and I flew right up the steps to get to my room, Matt fell towards the middle of the stairs so he came in last place, I came in first. When I was at the top I waited for Matt, because he fell down the stairs. Once he got to the top with me and Alex we walked down the hall to my room. When I opened the door we all sat on my bed to talk all about the baseball. “That baseball was so amazing, wasn’t it?” said Alex. “Yeah that ball was awesome!” said Matt. “Wouldn’t it be awesome to own that ball?” said I. “That would be like a dream come true!” said Alex. “Yeah it would,” said Matt. “How about we go outside?” said I. “Okay,” they said. So then we flew back through the hall, and almost jumped half the stairs. While we were running out the door I told my mom told my mom we’d be back soon, she said it was fine. We decided to walk
down to the park, and see if there were any other kids down there. The park was really close to our house so we didn’t have to walk far. Once we got there we saw three other kids playing football and they were about our age. We asked them if we could play and they said yes; the teams were Alex, Matt and I against the three other kids. We got the ball first, so we got the first touchdown, it was kinda back and forth because we both kept getting touchdowns. Then we made a play that got a touchdown every time, Alex would be QB, and Matt and I were wide receivers. Matt And I would make and X in the middle of the field and that would confuse them, then I would be wide open. The game ended with the score of five to eight, us. Once the game was over we headed home, because we were all tired. Once we got home we all headed straight for bed, it didn’t take long for us to fall asleep because we were all out before five minutes. When I woke up, I walked downstairs to watch some T.V. I figured I wouldn’t wake Alex and Matt, because they probably need the sleep, me, I used to waking up early. When I got downstairs I figured I’d just watch the or the weather, because this is the time when all the kids shows are on. When I turned on the T.V. I saw a picture of the baseball we saw at the museum with words under for a split second, then it went to a commercial, I couldn’t make out the words, they were too blury for me to see. I wondered why they had the baseball on the news, it wasn’t a brand new artifact or something like that. When it came back on I saw the words under the picture, and they made out the words “ STOLEN.” I couldn’t believe it, during the night someone went and stole the baseball. I thought security was so tight even a fly couldn’t get in there at night. They must have really known what they were doing if
they made it past security that tight. Instead of running up to wake up Alex and Matt to tell I thought I would watch a little more to make sure it wasn’t a prank from the news people. Then I heard the man say the worst things ever, “ That is right folks, the baseball hit by Babe Ruth in the hall of fame has been stolen. It was stolen overnight by group of people on the F.B.I. most wanted list, we cannot say they’re names because the say it is very top secret, and nobody is allowed to know who they are. We have the F.B.I. looking hot on their tail right now.” I had to tell Matt and Alex right away, so I sprint up the stairs and down the hall to my room as fast as I could. “Guys, the ball was stolen!” I yelled at them. They were still half asleep so I yelled again “Guys, the ball was stolen!” I yelled again. “What ball?” said Matt. “Yeah, what ball?” said Alex. “The one from the museum!” I yelled. “WHAT!!” they yelled back at me. “Yeah, it was stolen overnight, I saw it on the news.” I told them. “ Are you serious?” said Alex. “Yeah, no joke!” I said back. Then there was a huge moment of silence, nobody said a word for almost five minutes. During that five minutes all they thought about was what the people wanted in return to have it back. I thought they just stole it for money, which they probably did. When I started to think about what the “Hall Of Fame” would do, Alex said, “We’ve got to find a way to get that ball back.” “Are you crazy?” Matt and I said at the same time. “No, I’m actually serious, and I’m not being sarcastic,” he said back. “You do know those people are actual criminals right?” said I. “ Yeah, but do you know how famous we would be? We’d be heroes!” said Alex.
And that’s what got Matt and I to think about it. I thought about and told myself that an opportunity like this comes once in a lifetime. Then I thought that by stealing it back would actually get me a chance to hold the baseball, I’m sure it would feel like any other baseball but it would be worth a million bucks. That thought actually made me say, “I’m in.” “Really?” said Alex. “Yeah,” I said. “Matt, itʼs all up to you” Alex said. “What the heck,” said Matt. “Awesome!” said Alex and I. After that we all went to the computer then we typed in “Million Dollar Baseball” on Google. We saw a link that said “ Million Dollar Baseball stolen” so we clicked on it. We found a website with all the information we needed. We found out that the people who stole its head commander went by the name of Renaldo Teerts, and he dropped a piece of paper that said 1608. That’s all the information it gave us, all the rest were comments on how crazy it was. I didn’t see how that could help us at all, but at that moment Alex said, “Well I think thatʼs the best info we’ll get so lets get a notebook and write this down.” I ran to my closet and grabbed a notebook and a pencil and gave it to Alex. He wrote down Renoldo Teerts and 1608 on a piece of paper and said “ Well lets start packing.” “Packing what?” I said. “The stuff we’ll need” Alex said. “We all can wear black shorts and a black T- shirt the whole time,” Matt said. “Then what do we need to pack?” I said. “You have a bunch of spy stuff Logan, right?” said Matt
“Yeah, I’ll go get it,” I said. I ran down stairs and I grabbed all the spy stuff I could, I had three night vision goggles, a remote control car with a camera on it, a ʻSound Magnifier,ʼ sun glasses that took pictures, see through goggles, a small bottle of sleeping gas, and three key chain lasers that my dad gave me for show, but they actually work. I ran up stairs and put all the stuff on the floor in front of them. Just before someone could talk, I ran to my closet and grabbed my extra book bag. I went over to where they were sitting and I put the book bag there and sat down next to all them. “So what do you think?” I asked them. “All this stuff will be really useful,” said Matt. “We each get a pair of night vision goggles and lasers to keep with us at all times,” said Matt. I put all the stuff in the bag, except for the things that Matt talked about, just then I looked at the clock and it said 8:30 p.m.. I went to my dresser and grabbed three black shirts and three black shorts and gave them one of each. “Put them on” I said. “We’ll leave later on tonight.” “Guys look at this!” said Alex. I looked at him and I saw the notebook: it said Renaldo Teerts 1608, but right beside that it said 1608 Odlaner Street. “Found his address,” said Alex. I could not believe my eyes, Alex had figured out his address. “He must have changed his name, but could not think of anything fast so he said his address backwards,” Alex said. “That’s real close to here, so we’ll get that ball soon,” I said. I started to think about how we would get out of the house at night. We could not walk through the house at night, my mom would catch us. Then I looked over and saw the open window. My window was right
above a small roof on the side of the house, and my trampoline was right under it. Just then I saw the clock and it said 9:30 and just as I thought about something I could do, my mom walked in and told us it was time to go to bed. And both Matt and Alex looked at me and I motioned to them to go to bed. We were all wearing our black clothes and my mom thought that they were just pajamas. We got in bed leaving everything on the floor, like the book bag and notebook. When my mom walked out I waited a little bit then I said “All right, I decided we’ll leave at midnight, out of the back window, okay?” “Got it,” they both said. I set my alarm on my phone for 11:45 so I could wake up and have time to get ready and wake them up. I put in head phones so I wouldn’t wake my mom up when they went off and I told both Alex and Matt “Good night.” I wake up to the loud sounds of constant buzz in my ears and look at the clock and it says 11:45. I wake up Alex and Matt and they wake up pretty easy since they know its time. I go get the book bag and slide the notebook in and closing it, leaving the night vision goggles and lasers on the floor. I give each of them one of each and say “Put the goggles on your head a little high up so we can see, and put the lasers in your pocket.” “Okay,” the both say. “Ready to roll?” I ask. “Yep,” said Matt . “You got it,” said Alex. “Follow me,” I say. I jog to the window and climb out to the roof, I look behind me to make sure they’re still there and they are. I walk to the ledge and look for the trampoline, and its right under me I jump off the roof
and land on the mesh that catches me. I jump of and wait there for Alex and Matt. “ So were going to 1608 Odlaner Street, Right?” “Right,” said Alex. “Put on your night vision goggles and get ready to run,” I said. “Got it,” Matt said. I put on my night vision goggles and I see everything in green and white, I look behind me and see Alex nod at me and then I run down the street as fast as I can till I can’t see my house any more. I stop and see Alex and Matt right behind me. “Look for Odlaner Street, were at the place where the mansions are,” I say. “Okay,” they both say. We jog for about ten minutes when Matt says “There it is up there.” I look up and see the sign for Odlaner Street and run as fast as I can to it. I jog down Odlaner Street and look for 1608 on any of the mansions. I look behind me and say “Look for 1608” and get back to jogging down the street. I look to my right and see 1598, 1600, 1602, 1604, 1606, 1608. “There it is,” I say. “I see it too,” says Matt. “Lets go,”says Alex. I look for an open window and see one in the side of the house with a roof under it and two people guarding it. I motion Alex and Matt to see it and they nod, I go to the window and motion them to follow my steps. I climb up the water gutter since it has nails all through it. I climb up to the roof and get up on the roof and hide behind the wall, I motion Alex and Matt to do the same and they do. I take off the book bag and get the sleeping gas, I put the nozzle in the crack at the window and spray a quarter of the bottle in. It knocks them out and they fall on the couches luckily. We climb in the window and find some duck tape and tape their mouths and throw them in the closet,so that if they wake up, they won’t get us. “We’ll leave the
same way we come in,” I whisper to them, they nod back at me signaling okay. We take long silent strides till we get to the doorway, then I hide behind the wall and make sure no oneʼs coming. I signal to Matt and Alex that the coast is clear, they follow me into a large hallway, that separates in two ways. I look back and whisper to them “They probably have the ball in the middle of the house”, they nod so I know I’m ready to go. I stride through the hallway looking for an entrance to the door that leads to the baseball. I come up to a door with a large lock on it, I open my book bag and get my sound magnifier. I put the headphones in and put the other end on the door, I don’t here anything, no footsteps, or anybody talking. I put the sound magnifier away and get out my laser and shine it at the lock till it opens. It opens with a crack that’s a little loud, I open the door ready to punch someone, but there’s no one there. I walk in and it’s a small room with a doorway, I walk to the doorway, and make sure no ones there. There is not anyone there so I walk through the doorway. It leads to a circular stairwell. I look over the small balcony, and there’s the ball, but its guarded by three people. I think for a while, then I think about the sleeping gas, I tell Matt and Alex to cover their mouths and hold their breath. I take out the sleeping gas and unscrew the top so it all comes out, and toss it on one of the couches in the room. We hide behind the wall for a couple minutes, then I check to see if they’re still there, but they are not, they’re knocked out on the floor. I look over and see Matt motioning us to follow, and we do. We go down the stairs as silent as we can until we get down to the ball. It’s in a glass case with a lock on it, then I see Matt using his laser and cracking the lock then it opens. He reaches for it, but I stop him, “ We need to find
something that ways the same in case of an alarm” I tell them both. We look around and I find a glass ball on the table that looks like it’s for decoration, then I walk over to the ball and grab the ball and put the glass ball on at the same time. I put the ball in my book bag and signal Matt and Alex to get out of here. We go up the steps quickly, but silently and walk back through the hall to the door we came from. I walk in blindly and there’s a guy there about to hit me, but he gets a huge blow in the temple that knocks him out. I look at Matt and he says, “I took boxing lessons for two years.” We walk back through the other door, but I check for people this time, and no oneʼs there. We quietly get through the hallway and get to the door we came in from. I check for any body, but no oneʼs there. We climb out the window and stand there making sure everyone is still here. I motion them to follow my steps and I climb down the gutter half way, then I jump off. I stand there and wait for Matt and Alex, then tell them to put their night vision goggles on. When they do I sprint down the road, running as fast as I can trying to get away from that house, when I get to the sign for Odlaner Street, I stop and wait for Alex and Matt. When they get here I sprint again running my hardest till about half way to my house and stop, breathing heavily, and wait for Alex and Matt. Once they get here we walk and Matt says, “So what do you guys wanna do since we’ll be famous tomorrow.”