The only thing worse than having a valuable stolen is having one stolen that holds sentimental value. Unfortunately, White Sox shortstop Alexei Ramirez knows the feeling. Every now and then, Ramirez hops on eBay.com to search for a particular item — his 2004 Summer Olympics gold medal. According to to MLB.com, the medal Ramirez won as a part of Cuba’s championship squad in 2004 went missing during his travels after he signed with the White Sox in 2008. It was the only missing medal from a special case he had that held 15 he had won in various competitions in Cuba.
“The only thing missing was that one,” Ramirez explained. “That was the first thing I was looking for when I got to Chicago, and as soon as I saw it wasn’t there, I went crazy.”
Ramirez believes it may have gone missing at some point during his travels to Miami or Chicago. Now, the search consumes his thoughts. In fact, he says he would even take a replacement of the medal rather than the original. With the help of White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, who is friendly with the former Chairman of the United States Olympic Committee Peter Ueberroth, Ramirez sent a letter hoping to attain a duplicate. He has yet to hear back.
“Actually, having a copy would be the same thing,” Ramirez said. “You look at a picture with the championship. You see me there with it. That to me is the same. Whether it’s a copy or the original, just to have it, I would be ecstatic.”
As for the original medal, Ramirez is hoping someone might still return it if they stole it. In fact, he says he wouldn’t rat the person out.
“Just return my medal. I would be really happy. I won’t say anything.”
If an LBS reader is the culprit, we’d really appreciate if you’d do the right thing.
