Sox thrilled to have historic ball

[MaineDem]

BOSTON -- The Red Sox World Series championship trophy finally has a suitable traveling companion.

Capping a 24-hour journey from a safe-deposit box in Florida to Fenway Park, the ball that was flipped from Keith Foulke to Doug Mientkiewicz for the final out in the 2004 World Series arrived outside Gate D at 2:10 p.m. ET on Thursday to a full red-carpet ceremony.

An armored Brinks van carried the star of the day to Fenway, and once there, two security officers made their way out of the vehicle and through a group of 30 photographers, TV cameras and reporters, all the while carefully holding the black bag containing the prized ball.

...

"I want to take a moment to thank Doug Mientkiewicz and his agent, Greg Landry, for their cooperation so that it can be put, as it should be, on exhibit for the fans, the people of Red Sox Nation," Lucchino said. "Thank you very much."

Following the season-long tour of Massachusetts, the ball will be returned to Mientkiewicz, who was traded to the Mets last month.

http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/bos/news/bos_news.jsp?ymd=20050203&content_id=939047&vkey=news_bos&fext=.jsp

So Doug gets to keep it after all. :D

[cobaindrain]

1. how do they know if it's the real ball?

really, mientkiewicz could've just taken any ball and claimed it's from the final out.