This should be on somebody's mantle somewhere, or at least in storage. It's somebody's first youth baseball home run. It's turning into a mystery.

   Man finds home run ball from 2000 in uncle's garage

This caught our eye, it was posted on social media recently. A Tri-City man named Rob "C" (we shortened his last name for privacy) put up this story.  It's a signed or labeled home run ball from the summer 2000 season at Kennewick National Youth Baseball.

It says "Troy's 1st Home run, 6/5/2000 Kennewick National #2."  On the back, it says "it was a shot!" 

6/5/200 would have been a Monday, and yes, KN does and has played games on Mondays, most recently, Tuesday, Friday and Saturdays.

 

Mystery HR ball (Rob C Facebook)
Mystery HR ball (Rob C Facebook)
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Now, we don't know if the #2 indicates field 2 (there are 3 at KN) or if it was team #2.  KN has the fields on  4th Ave. just below Highway 395, and just west of Westgate Elementary. There's the Rookie field, the smallest, KN Field 2-Major 60 is in the middle, and the largest, the Major 70 field is closest to Westgate.

For years, KN and KA have named their teams after their community sponsors, such as Overturf Major 70,  Atomic Screen Printing Major 60, etc.  Our son and daughter played KN, and they never labeled teams as #1, #2, and so on. So, it's likely it was the middle field. A decent shot!

As far back as we can recall, Kennewick National and Kennewick American have been Cal Ripken affiliated, and have had similar levels. Aside from entry-level Coach Pitch T-Ball and then Machine Pitch, they both have (or have had) Minors, Major 60 and Major 70.  Those refer to the distance between the bases.

It's most likely "Troy" hit one out playing either Major 60 or Major 70.   Kennewick is the only city that plays Major 70, Richland, Pasco, Walla Walla play Little League rules. 60-foot bases, no leading off, can only steal when the ball leaves the pitcher's hand--just like the Little League World Series.

Major 70 is just like HS, College, or MLB, except only 70-foot base paths. It's full-tilt leadoff, steal, pickoff, high-stakes ball.

  The man says he was helping his uncle clean his garage, and he found the ball

We reached out to Rob, and he said he was recently helping his uncle clean his garage, and found the ball. His uncle said he thinks he got it at a garage sale, or from one of those "free" boxes at such a sale. He didn't indicate how long he'd had the ball, but it's quite the mystery.

The KN website only goes back to about 2021 for results and standings.

A kid playing KN baseball in 2000 would probably be at least 32-34 now, based upon the team age brackets.  If you know a Troy who played KN that summer, maybe let him know somebody found his first ever home run ball.

 

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