Babe Ruth's sunken Piano

[Farrell]

I personally think there is great potential here - after all, the local upholsterer is "confident we can save it." Maybe if it sunk into the mud immediately, it was preserved in an absence of oxygen and looks just like it did the day it went down. Just think - you wouldn't need to worry about loose glue joints - at least if they do find it and pull it out, I hope they can keep the case together, that way maybe the 10,000 internal parts will still be inside it! Talk about the ultimate jigsaw puzzle! Of course, maybe some of those "little wooden thingees" might just get a little warp to them as they dry.  :-(

If someone keeps up with this one - let us know. Looks like enjoyable reading. I can hardly wait for the pictures!

Terry Farrell
  
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Robert Goodale" <rrg@unlv.edu>
To: "Pianotech List" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2002 12:22 AM
Subject: Babe Ruth's sunken Piano


> Here is a rather interesting tid bit from today's news. The link is here:
> http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/news/2002/02/24/ruth_piano_ap/
> 
> I think these people are underestimating what would actually be involved 
> in this project, (if it is even possible), but it is interesting reading 
> anyway.
> 
> Rob Goodale, RPT
> Las Vegas, NV
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> BOSTON (AP) -- Red Sox fans will go to any depths to break the Curse of 
> the Bambino.
> 
> On Saturday, a group went to the bottom of a suburban Boston pond in 
> search of Babe Ruth's piano, which, the story goes, was tossed into the 
> water by the slugger in 1918.  The group hopes to refurbish the piano 
> and play it again, just as the Babe did in 1918, the last time the Red 
> Sox won a World Series. A season later, Ruth was sold to the New York 
> Yankees 
> <http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/ml/teams/yankees/> , who 
> have since won 26 championships.
> 
> "Once we bring this up, the Red Sox will win," Sudbury historian Lee 
> Swanson said.  The search is sponsored by the Restoration Project, a 
> rehabilitation program for adults with mental illness and head injuries. 
> It received a search permit from the state -- Willis Pond is state 
> property.  If the piano is positively identified, an excavation permit 
> would be needed to retrieve it.  "We're confident we can save it and 
> play it again," said Kevin Kennedy, a local upholsterer who volunteers 
> with the group. "Wouldn't that be something? The last person to play 
> this piano was Babe Ruth. Who knows -- it could end up at Fenway Park."
> 
> Five divers tried a blind search Saturday because visibility was poor, 
> said Chris Hugo, who works with the state Board of Underwater 
> Archaeological Research. They didn't locate the piano but said they'll 
> return with a "sub-bottom profiler," a sonar scanner to get through 
> sediment.  Organizers say they have proof the piano is there. On Dec. 
> 22, Hugo used an infared camera and identified a "rectangular shape with 
> wiry weeds" at the bottom, 15 feet below the surface and near shore. 
>  The piano story has been local legend ever since Ruth rented a cottage 
> near the pond in 1917 and 1918. 
> 
> Kennedy heard the stories after moving to the area last year and 
> investigated. If indeed the piano was there, he thought, he could 
> refurbish it with help from the Restoration Project.  It would be a way 
> to exorcise a baseball demon in the name of charity, said Kennedy, who 
> calls himself "your average frustrated fan."  But first, they had to 
> find the piano. Enter historians Swanson and Curt Garfield. Garfield 
> wrote "The 100-year History of Sudbury," in which he identified Willis 
> Pond as the resting place of Ruth's piano.  Still, Kennedy wanted more 
> proof.  He called the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum -- a block from 
> Camden Yards in Baltimore -- and spoke to director Greg Schwalenberg, 
> who found a photo dated "winter 1917-1918" showing Ruth posing at the 
> cottage.  Next, they found a letter in the archives of the late 
> historian Ralph Sheridan, a friend of Ruth's from nearby Maynard, 
> describing how Ruth often "sang around the piano with friends,' Kennedy 
> said.
> The letter also described a 15-foot incline from the lake to the cottage 
> -- a perfect launching point.
> 
> If excavated, the piano would be state property, but the Restoration 
> Project would have preservation rights. State guidelines require that 
> the group outline how it would conserve the piano and how it would pay 
> for it. The nonprofit group says it will hold fund-raising events.  Ruth 
> was drawn to the pond, Swanson said, because several teammates lived 
> nearby. The area, he said, soon became a hotbed of illegal drinking for 
> Boston gangsters during Prohibition.  By that time, Ruth was leading the 
> Yankees to World Series victories. Many Boston fans believe their 
> beloved Red Sox have been cursed ever since.  "I certainly believe 
> there's something going on," Kennedy said. "In 80 years, we haven't had 
> a championship in Boston in baseball.  Perhaps we can eliminate whatever 
> this is -- whether it's a curse or a psychological block."
> 
>