# Speaking of (maybe) stealing statues **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Tags:** baseball-mlb\ **Created:** [August 6, 2024, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaking-of-maybe-stealing-statues/1005343 "2024-08-06T18:17:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2024, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaking-of-maybe-stealing-statues/1005343/1 "2024-08-06T18:17:08Z")
Cleveland’s League Park was a historic ball field on the east side of Cleveland. Many notable things happened there including Babe Ruth’s 500th home run in 1929 and the last game of Joe Dimaggios’ 56 game hitting streak. The field was torn down long ago except for a ticket building on the corner. The field is right in the middle of a residential neighborhood. Cleveland councilwoman Fanny Lewis spent decade trying to get the city to do something to commemorate the historic location.In 2013 they finally built a replica of the field that utilized the one remaining building. It was dedicated to Fanny Lewis and the park (not the baseball field) was named after her. She had passed away several years earlier. To honor her efforts a bronze bust was also placed on the site. Two years later the bust disappeared. Local people were aghast that someone, possibly from the neighborhood, had stolen their beloved councilwoman’s statue. As it turns out, the monument company that made the statue had noticed it needed a bit of repair _so they took it without telling the city_! Ah, Cleveland. P.S. I have stood on the spot where the Babe’s 500th landed and am in awe of how high that ball must have been hit. It cleared the 40 foot right field wall and landed only about 30 feet outside. What a towering hit! An Ohio man caught the ball while waiting at the corner for the bus. Babe wanted to keep the ball so the guards escorted the man onto the field where the Bambino swapped him two signed balls and 20 bucks. I managed to track the man over the years as he moved to California. Every tenth anniversary of the 500th home run he brought the two balls out to display to people. Hopefully his family still has them. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2024, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaking-of-maybe-stealing-statues/1005343/2 "2024-08-06T18:38:42Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > Every tenth anniversary of the 500th home run he brought the two balls out to display to people. Hopefully his family still has them. I would hope that they would have let him take them with him. He obviously cherished them. And I’m glad they found her bust. ---
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2024, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaking-of-maybe-stealing-statues/1005343/3 "2024-08-06T21:45:39Z")
don’t forget Jackie Robinson’s statue stolen ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2024, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaking-of-maybe-stealing-statues/1005343/4 "2024-08-06T21:47:15Z")
Again? After they replaced it just the other day? ---
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2024, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaking-of-maybe-stealing-statues/1005343/5 "2024-08-06T21:48:57Z")
sorry, I was just adding on since I used to live in Cle ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2024, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speaking-of-maybe-stealing-statues/1005343/6 "2024-08-06T23:19:30Z")
> [@fedman1](#): > > don’t forget Jackie Robinson’s statue stolen Well, that is what I was vectoring off of.