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Did someone put up a sign saying it's OK to steal Tampa Bay Rays stuff? The Fresno Bee put the word out Tuesday that the 2008 AL championship ring belonging to Matt Garza was stolen from his home in Fresno County, Calif.
This breaking-and-entering news comes less than a year after criminals burglarized the spring training Florida residence of Evan Longoria, David Price and Reid Brignac, stealing (among other items) Longoria's AK-47.
Stealing. From Joe Maddon's ballplayers. The nerve of some people.
Garza's 14k white gold ring, encrusted with 47 white and one yellow diamond, is valued at $30,000. So it's not the typical piece of jewelry a high-school junior might order through Jostens.
It's also personalized, engraved with Garza's name on the inside. I don't know how easy it is for someone to remove engraving from a ring, but unless Garza's name is taken off, the ring will be pretty tough to fence.
An especially neat detail of the ring: It includes Maddon's 9=8 formula on one side.
He's currently a member of the Chicago Cubs, but Garza was the MVP of the ALCS in '08, when the Rays advanced to their first World Series. Give him his ring back, dang it. He's not going to win one with the Cubs this season.
Hopefully, the sheriff in Fresno will have similar luck to the authorities in Florida, who made several arrests in the Longoria-Price-Brignac case.
Big BLS h/t: Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times
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