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Thursday, September 24, 1998
Galveston fan loans Maris uniform to Hall of
Fame
By MATT YOUNG The Galveston County Daily News
GALVESTON, Texas - Barney Rapp has been waiting a long time
for his hero to make the hall of fame. Although, officially, it
still hasn't happened, Rapp recently helped put a piece of his
hero in the hallowed hall.
With the mania of the recent home-run chase, Roger Maris' legacy
has been brought back to prominence. The Baseball Hall of Fame
in Cooperstown, N.Y., has been collecting mementos from Mark McGwire
and Sammy Sosa as they have driven past Maris' 61 homers in 1961.
Rapp, a fourth-generation Galvestonian, owns the only known
original uniform worn by Maris during the 1961 season.
As McGwire and Sosa approached Maris' record, Rapp gave the
hall of fame a call and offered the uniform, which was being kept
secured in a bank vault.
A few days later, a hall of fame representative called back
and arranged to insure the uniform and have it mailed overnight
to Cooperstown. The uniform, which includes the jersey, pants,
belt and stirrups, is displayed in a prime location, just inside
the entrance of the hall of fame. Rapp lent it to the hall for
one year.
"All along I've been looking for a place to display the
uniform," said Rapp. "I couldn't think of a better place
to display it than the national baseball Hall of Fame. Roger's
not in there yet - although I certainly hope he will be one day
- but I feel good that at least I had a part in putting his uniform
in the Hall of Fame."
The uniform is part of a display charting McGwire and Sosa's
home runs. Inside each player's case is the player's uniform,
bat and record-breaking home run ball, except Sosa's, which was
never returned by the fan who caught it. In Maris' case, next
to the uniform is a small plaque that says it was donated by Galveston's
Barney Rapp.
"To have my name in the Hall of Fame with one of my heroes
makes me feel pretty good," Rapp said. "I told them
if they're going to use the jersey and put my name with it, then
they have to mention Galveston, too. I wanted to get Galveston
a little publicity with it."
Although Maris and many of the Yankees of that era have always
been heroes to Rapp, he had a special interest in Maris after
getting his uniform.
Rapp, 50, had built up a large collection of Yankees' bats
from World Series and all-star games.
About five years ago, his insurance company told him it could
no longer insure the bats under his homeowner's policy because
they had become too valuable. So Rapp began looking for a trade
that would net him one big item instead of several smaller ones.
When the opportunity came to trade the bats for the uniform that
had sold at a Sotheby's auction for $135,000 in the early 1990s,
he jumped at it.
Ever since then, Rapp, who owns seven other old Yankee jerseys,
has kept an eye on the annual home-run chase, hoping no one would
ever eclipse Maris' mark.
"I watched McGwire hit 62, then I saw Sosa hit his 62nd;
I was both sad and happy," Rapp said.
"I was certainly sad to see Roger's record go down, but
I was happy that Roger was getting so much recognition. It was
broken with such dignity. Both players have really shown such
great respect for Roger and his family, so I was very happy to
see it done that way."
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Distributed by The Associated Press
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