Ballpark Mysteries Super Special #2

by David A. Kelly

  As Mr. Owen walked away, Mike gathered everyone in a circle. He finished eating a bright green tree cookie, and then wiped his hands on his pants. “Okay, I’ve got a question for you. What do you call people who are afraid of Santa Claus?”

  “Scaredy cats?” Caleb asked. “Or scaredy clauses?”

  Mike shook his head. “Good try!” Everyone else was quiet. “Give up?” Mike asked.

  “Yup!” Caleb said.

  “Claustrophobic!” Mike said. “Get it? Like afraid of small spaces, but with Santa!”

  Kate nodded. “Yes, we got it, Mike,” she said.

  The kids continued to eat and drink and tell jokes until the snacks were gone. Then Mrs. Hopkins told them to put on their pajamas and brush their teeth.

  “You wouldn’t believe who was watching me!” Scott said when he returned from the bathroom. “There’s a huge picture of Babe Ruth downstairs, and his eyes follow you wherever you are in the room. It’s really creepy!”

  “Cool!” Mike said. “Let’s go check it out!”

  The kids scampered down the stairs to the picture gallery on the first floor. They took turns walking around as Babe Ruth’s eyes followed them.

  “That’s weird,” Caleb said.

  “I think it’s pretty neat,” Kate said. “They always say that Santa Claus is watching, but now we know that Babe Ruth is watching, too!”

  “Maybe Babe Ruth is Santa Claus!” Mike said.

  Everyone laughed.

  After a few minutes, they walked back upstairs to go to bed. When the kids were tucked into their sleeping bags, Kate’s mom flicked off the lights. A red EXIT sign glowed at the far end of the room.

  “Good night to all, and to all a good night!” Kate’s mom said.

  “Good night, Mrs. Hopkins,” the kids replied.

  Mike and Kate pretended to go to sleep right away. But Caleb started in on the knock-knock jokes.

  “Knock-knock!” Caleb said.

  “Who’s there?” they all asked.

  “Mary,” Caleb said.

  “Mary who?”

  “Mary Christmas!” Caleb said, laughing.

  “Okay, I got one. I should have said it this morning,” Mike said. “Knock-knock!”

  “Who’s there?” they shouted.

  “Rabbit,” Mike answered.

  “Rabbit who?”

  “Rabbit up carefully, it’s a present!” Mike snorted.

  The jokes continued for a little while, but then Mrs. Hopkins quieted everyone down. They drifted off to sleep one by one.

  Mike and Kate waited for Kate’s mother to fall asleep. It seemed to take forever. At last, when they heard Mrs. Hopkins snoring, Kate popped up. She carefully stepped over sleeping bags to check that no one else was awake. Then she turned around and gave Mike a thumbs-up. It was time to explore!

  Mike slid out of his sleeping bag. He and Kate tiptoed to the open doorway near the stairs. The museum was pitch-black except for the red EXIT signs.

  Mike pulled out a small flashlight and flicked it on. It made a circle of bright white light on the floor. “I brought my rock-hunting flashlight for the sleepover. But we can use it to figure out if that Honus Wagner card is a fake or not,” he said. Mike had gotten a rock-collecting book and some tools for his birthday.

  “The rock-hunting flashlight will help us spot a fake baseball card?” Kate asked. “Since when did they start making baseball cards out of rocks?”

  “It’s not a regular flashlight,” Mike said. “It’s a black-light flashlight! I use it for finding fluorescent minerals in rocks. It has an ultraviolet bulb that makes something glow if it has certain chemicals or minerals in it.”

  Mike flipped a switch on the flashlight. The circle of white light changed to purple.

  “Oh yeah,” Kate said. “Like those special markers and lightbulb we got for our haunted house!”

  “Exactly,” Mike said. “But we can use it to spot fake old-fashioned baseball cards. I learned about it from my dad. We use it at the store all the time to check if old cards really are old.

  “After about 1940, companies started adding special chemicals to paper to make them look brighter,” Mike said. “If you shine a black light on them, they’ll sparkle. But paper older than that won’t.”

  “So if the Honus Wagner card on display is original, it won’t sparkle,” Kate said.

  Mike nodded. But just then, Mike and Kate heard a door shut on the floor below. A moment later, they could hear footsteps coming up the stairs.

  “What’s that?” Mike asked. “There’s no one here except us!”

  “Maybe it’s a thief!” Kate said. “Quick, we’ve got to move.”

  Mike looked around for someplace to run. The entrance to the exhibit halls was on the other side of the stairs. He tugged on Kate’s pajama top. “Over there!” he said.

  As the footsteps grew louder, Mike and Kate zoomed across the landing to the exhibits. Mike ducked inside. Kate followed. It was dark, but the red EXIT signs gave off just enough light for them to see the edges of things.

  The footsteps had made it to the top of the stairs. They had escaped just in time!

  Mike and Kate watched as a man flicked a flashlight into the room with their sleeping bags. Kate caught sight of the man just before he turned the flashlight off and started walking again.

  “It’s not a thief!” Kate said. “It’s the security guard, Buddy! Remember, Mr. Owen said he makes his rounds every twenty minutes.”

  Mike let out a small sigh. “Whew, that makes sense,” he said. “But we still can’t get caught here! I’ve got an idea.”

  They were standing in front of the Babe Ruth exhibit. It was filled with equipment that Babe Ruth had used, including a big locker from Yankee Stadium. Mike hopped inside and pulled Kate in with him. He held his finger in front of his lips to signal for quiet.

  The footsteps from the guard grew louder. He was headed straight for them!

  Mike and Kate held their breath as the footsteps drew closer. They even heard the guard’s breathing when he stopped outside the Babe Ruth exhibit to look around. Mike’s lungs felt like they were just about to burst when the guard finally walked on! Slowly, Mike started to breathe again. When they could no longer hear the guard’s footsteps, Mike and Kate tumbled out of the locker.

  “That was close!” Kate said.

  “I know,” Mike said. “There’s no time to lose. He’ll be back again in twenty minutes. Let’s get to the card to investigate.”

  Mike and Kate quietly wound their way through the museum. They stopped in front of the Honus Wagner exhibit.

  Mike pulled out his black-light flashlight. “Watch this!” he said. He flicked the flashlight on. It threw a circle of purple light on the ground. “If that card is real, it shouldn’t look any different under black light.”

  Kate held her breath as Mike flashed the black light on the Honus Wagner exhibit. The shoes, glove, and other items in the Honus Wagner case looked flat and dark blue under the purple light.

  But the Honus Wagner card lit up like a sparkler! The white parts of the paper around the edges glowed in the dark.

  “Aha!” Mike whispered. “I knew it was fake!”

  “Time to wake up!” Mrs. Hopkins called.

  One head after another poked out of the sleeping bags scattered across the floor. Mike lifted his head. His hair was messy. He ran his fingers through it. “Is Mr. Owen here yet?” he asked.

  “No, not yet,” Mrs. Hopkins said. “But the Hall of Fame opens in an hour, and we have to pick up our sleeping bags.”

  Caleb yawned. “Okay, but I’m hungry,” he said.

  “That’s good,” Mrs. Hopkins said. “Mr. Owen is going to bring a big order of Sally’s Blue Chip Muffins with him when he comes to work.”

  Sally’s Blue Chip Muffins were a special treat in Cooperstown. They were blueberry muffins with chocolate chips in them.

  Caleb pumped his fist in the air. “Score!” he said. “I love Blue Chip Muffins!�
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  “Then please help clean up and bring your stuff to the research library,” Mrs. Hopkins said.

  The kids jumped into action. The sleeping bags were rolled up in no time at all. Everyone grabbed their backpacks and sleeping bags and followed Mrs. Hopkins to the Hall of Fame’s research library.

  As soon as they pushed the door to the library open, the smell of blueberries and chocolate hit them.

  “Dig in!” Mr. Owen said. He stood behind the long research table in the middle of the room. Spread across the top of it were plates, big piles of muffins, bananas, strawberries, and glasses of orange juice.

  The kids crowded the table and heaped their plates with muffins and fruit. As soon as they sat down to eat, the talk turned to Christmas presents.

  “I asked for a new baseball glove and some special oil to soften it up,” Caleb said. “My dad said to rub oil in the palm of the glove. Put a baseball in and wrap it tight with a rubber band. Then you put it under your mattress and it will mold itself into the perfect shape for catching balls. If I break the glove in over the winter, it’ll be perfect for spring.”

  “I asked for a pitch-back,” Scott said. “When the snow is gone, I’ll use it to work on my fielding. And my dad said we might be able to set it up in the basement.”

  While the others were talking about presents, Mike nudged Kate. He nodded in the direction of Mr. Owen, who was eating with Kate’s mom.

  “Keep an eye on him,” Mike whispered. “Let’s talk to him when he’s finished with breakfast.”

  “Good idea,” she said.

  For the rest of the meal, everyone swapped stories about Christmas morning, Santa Claus, and holidays. The kids were jealous of Caleb when he said that he got eight days of presents for Hanukkah. Then Rani told them her family made sweet treats like pineapple tarts for the Muslim holiday of Eid, after Ramadan. That made Mike and Tommy hungry enough to grab more muffins.

  When they finished eating, everyone got up and threw their trash away. But instead of heading back to the table, Mike and Kate walked over to Mr. Owen’s office. He was on the phone, so they waited outside his door. When Mr. Owen finished his call, Kate poked her head in.

  “Oh, hello!” Mr. Owen said. “Come in!” He was sitting behind his desk on the far side of the room. Grace was there, too. She was sipping coffee and working at her desk. Next to her was a special table with a clean white background for taking pictures of museum pieces.

  “Thanks for all your help yesterday,” Grace said. “The kids will really appreciate those gifts. I just wish we could have raised more money this year to help build a new community center.”

  “You’re welcome. It was fun,” Kate said. “But we have some bad news for Mr. Owen. Mike and I discovered something that we think you should know about.”

  “Oh?” he said, raising an eyebrow. “What’s going on?”

  Mike stepped forward. “The Honus Wagner card on display is a fake!” he said.

  Mr. Owen nodded, and his face relaxed.

  Mike glanced at Kate. “Did you hear me?” he asked. “Someone’s stolen your Honus Wagner card!”

  Mr. Owen smiled. “Yes, I heard you, and you’re right!” he said. Mr. Owen waved his hand. “The Honus Wagner card in that display case is a fake!”

  “What do you mean?” Mike and Kate asked. “You’ve been robbed? That card is worth millions!”

  “No, that’s not what happened,” Mr. Owen said with a smile. “When Big D and Jordan were at the Hall of Fame yesterday making their video, they needed a shot of the Honus Wagner card. So we took the original card out of the display case and put in one of the replica cards from the gift shop. We brought the real one back here.”

  He pointed to the table next to Grace’s desk. “Jordan photographed it there. Then I put it in the safe for the night. I was going to put it back on display after breakfast,” he said. “How did you realize that the card on display was a fake?”

  “We shined Mike’s black-light flashlight on it,” Kate said. “And the paper sparkled, so we know it’s not from 1909!”

  “That’s a pretty good piece of detective work,” Mr. Owen said. “We’ve used black light here at the Hall of Fame to double-check old cards. Would you like to see the real Honus Wagner baseball card now?”

  “Yes!” Mike and Kate said.

  Mr. Owen went to the safe in his office and spun the dial back and forth. The heavy metal door swung open, and he reached in and took a box out of the safe. He set the box on the table next to Grace.

  Grace glanced over. “Here, let me move my stuff out of the way,” she said. She pulled some of her papers closer to her desk.

  Mr. Owen opened the box’s hinged cover. The inside was lined in bright green felt. In the middle of the green felt was the real Honus Wagner card!

  Mike and Kate peeked into the box. “Wow!” Kate said. “I can’t believe that small piece of paper is worth millions of dollars!”

  “It’s just so rare,” Mr. Owen said. “That’s why they’re worth so much. We have to be careful to keep them in perfect condition. We always make sure that no one touches this card without special gloves on.”

  Mike leaned over to get a closer look at the card. Then he took out his flashlight and set it on black-light mode. He closed the cover of the box as much as he could and then shined the light inside.

  “What are you doing, Mike?” Mr. Owen asked.

  Mike put down the flashlight and opened the lid of the box. “I’ll show you,” he said. Then Mike reached into the box and picked the card up.

  “Mike!” Mr. Owen said. “That’s priceless! You’re going to ruin it!”

  Mike held up the Honus Wagner T206 card. “It’s not priceless,” he said. “It’s worthless!”

  Mr. Owen stepped forward to take the card from Mike. “You really can’t do that,” he said. “This is an important baseball artifact!”

  “No, it’s not,” said Mike. “It’s a fake!”

  “What?” asked Grace. “How could it be a fake?”

  Mike handed the card to Mr. Owen. “It’s one of the reproduction cards from the gift shop,” he said. “You can tell because the edges are so straight and clean. And when I shined the black light on it, the paper lit up like a sparkler!”

  Mr. Owen peered closely at the card. He gasped and dropped the card on the table. “You’re right. This is a fake!” he said. “The real Honus Wagner card has been stolen!”

  “How could that be?” Grace asked. “I thought the safe was impossible to break into!”

  Mr. Owen walked over and looked at the safe. There was no sign that anyone had tried to break into it.

  “Well, someone must have switched a fake card with the real one between when you took it out of the display case and when you put it in the safe,” Kate said.

  “But how?” Mr. Owen asked. “I was with Big D and Jordan and the card the whole time! When we were done taking pictures of the card, I put it away. There wasn’t time for anyone to steal it. I don’t know how this could have happened.” Mr. Owen sank into his chair. “This is terrible! I will lose my job!”

  Kate stood up. “Let’s go over what happened yesterday,” she said. She pointed at Mr. Owen. “You were showing Big D and Jordan around the museum. They needed a shot of the Honus Wagner card, so you took it out of the display case and brought it back here to the office.”

  Kate pointed at the special table. “You put the card there, and Jordan took pictures of it, right?”

  “Yes,” Mr. Owen said. He glanced at Grace. “You had just come in to order pizza. You watched them photograph the card, right? Nothing happened to it then.”

  Grace nodded. “Yup,” she said. “I saw it. I was there.”

  “What happened after that?” Kate asked.

  Mr. Owen stood up. He pointed to a pair of white cotton gloves on the photography table. “When Jordan finished taking pictures of the Honus Wagner card, I put those gloves on and put the card into its box. Then I put it in the safe,” h
e said.

  Grace smacked her hand on the table and jumped up. “That’s it!” she said. “You didn’t put it right in the safe! When Big D and Jordan were done with the pictures, they were late for lunch. So you let them out the front door, and I went to wrap presents. You waited to put the card away until you got back!”

  “But that doesn’t tell us who stole it,” Mr. Owen said.

  Grace smiled. “Yes, it does,” she said. “We were all wrapping presents just before Jordan and Big D left for lunch. But can you remember who ran back to your office?”

  “Jordan!” Kate said. “He went to get his camera lens!”

  Grace clapped her hands. “Exactly!” she said. “And I’ll bet that’s when Jordan stole the Honus Wagner card!”

  “Jordan?” Mr. Owen asked. “I can’t believe that Jordan would have stolen the card. He used to work for me. I can vouch for him. Someone else must have done it.”

  “I don’t know,” Grace said. “Jordan was the only person who went back into the office.”

  “I just don’t think it was him,” Mr. Owen said. “Maybe someone stole it after Jordan left, when I was showing him and Big D to the front door. It probably took me five minutes to get back to my office. That makes more sense than Jordan taking the card.”

  “We were all in the research library wrapping presents at that time,” Grace said. “I didn’t see anyone else. It seems like the police should start by questioning Jordan. Are he and Big D still in Cooperstown?”

  “Yes, they’re not leaving for a couple days,” Mr. Owen said. “They’re staying at the Otesaga.”

  The Otesaga was Cooperstown’s famous old hotel. It was a few blocks from the Hall of Fame and sat on the edge of Otsego Lake. The hotel had columns in the front and a big porch in the back that overlooked the lake. Lots of famous baseball players had stayed there for Hall of Fame events.