According to Christopher J. Girard of the Boston Globe, a Massachusetts man may have found one of the most interesting relics in sports history in a local pond, a pond on which the legendary Babe Ruth once owned a Cabin during his time with Boston Red Sox.
All to often, the difference between "myth" and "truth" gets blurred when it comes to wild and crazy sports stories. This however is does not appear to be one of them.
During an 1918 party at Babe Ruth's Massachusetts cabin, legend has it that Ruth himself pulled a grand piano onto Willis Pond. Fortunately for those who enjoy a classic Ruth story, the Piano fell through the ice, in the process giving sports treasure hunters a relic worth seeking.
For nearly 10-years, Kevin Kennedy had searched Willis Pond for the Ruth Relic to no avail, then on June 20th, a team of divers discovered a large piece of wood. At first Kennedy didn't believe the large piece of wood had anything to do with his search.
"We didn't think it was anything" Kennedy said. "It just looked like plywood."
For good measure, Kennedy showed the piece of sunken pond wood to a local piano craftsman.
"He said it was the veneer of a piano," said Kennedy. "I took it to him three times because I couldn't believe it."
Seeing the importance for second opinion, the 51-year old Kennedy took his findings to a local wood expert, who told him it was a piano veneer before he could ask.
The veneer that Kennedy pulled from the pond has split into roughly eight pieces since being pulled from the water, Kennedy said. The Veneer is now under the stewardship of the Sudbury Historical Society, where it is being stored in a lightproof case, said Lee Swanson, curator and archivist for the historical society.
Swanson said that at the moment, the possibly historic veneer will not be on display due it's delicate state.
Kennedy believes that the rest of the Piano may not be far behind, at least the parts that are salvageable. His diving team as since found, but not excavated, a large metal object from the pond. Kennedy believes that it might be the piano's harp.
"Could it be a block of an engine? I don't think so, but I want to find out," Kennedy said. "This story is profound for a lot of people. It inspires the imagination."
Kennedy is currently seeking an archaeological diver to help remove the object without sustaining further damage.
With the objects location seemingly discovered, Kennedy hopes to extract it sometime this summer before someone cherry picks the sunken piece of Baseball folklore.
If the object is indeed the harp, Kennedy said that he plans to fully restore the piano and put in a new piano box. The possibility of hearing the same sound that the legendary baseball player once heard excites the Ruth relic hunter.
"Every piano has a soul. Every piano sounds different," he said. "We want to see what the Babe's piano sounds like."
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