Delco man hopes for return of World Series ring

Tom Chism had what baseball people like to call "a cup of coffee" in the big leagues, and it was hardly a double-shot cappuccino.

He paid a decade of dues in the minors as a player and coach, and his major-league career spanned all of three at-bats. He finished 4,191 hits behind Ty Cobb, yet he realized a dream that Cobb never did in his Hall of Fame career: He got a World Series ring.

"That was my biggest reward as a player," said Chism, who was working for the Baltimore Orioles' organization in 1983, the year the O's beat the Phillies in the World Series. For his years of loyal service, the team awarded him a 19-diamond World Series ring, engraved with his name.

For 25 years, the ring was the pride of his professional life, the tangible evidence that he had lived a dream.

Then came the nightmare: In November, the ring was stolen. And last week came more crushing news.

A man wearing a blue hazmat suit rapped on the door of Chism's apartment in Brookhaven, Delaware County, on Monday evening. It was Brookhaven police investigator Randy McGoldrick, who for eight months had been fixated on recovering the ring.

Police had caught the burglar that day, a 17-year-old. He had confessed to breaking into Chism's and two other basement apartments at the Camelot Court complex. So where was the ring? McGoldrick wanted to know. The burglar told him he had thrown it down a storm drain; it was too hot to hock.

So that very day, McGoldrick and two borough employees, Dave Evans and Buddy Brzezicki, went ring-hunting. Evans and Brzezicki opened the cover, and McGoldrick squeezed into the 4-foot-wide drain identified by the burglar.

No luck. He tried three others along Brookhaven Road. No luck. They looked for more than two hours.

The burglar also had taken Chism's laptop, camera, and another ring. But the World Series ring - that's what hurt.

"I've been devastated since it happened," said Chism, 55, who after his baseball career worked 20 years as a security guard at Crozer-Chester Medical Center, and is now on disability with a bum back. "This is something you cherish and show off all your life. Everywhere you went, people wanted to see it."

Chism said that he usually had kept the ring in a safe, but that he had taken it out a few days before the burglary to show someone. He then left it on his dresser.

"I never thought that anything like this would happen," he said. He wanted that ring, he said, "for my son, when he got older."

His son, T.J., has those baseball genes, and he was drafted by the New York Mets last month. He is playing for the Mets' Kinsgport, Tenn., affiliate in the Appalachian League. He is a pitcher with a strong arm, but he is smallish at 5-foot-10, and knows that might work against him.

Tom Chism was three inches taller, 6-foot-1, in his playing days, but he had two strikes against him: his legs, and Eddie Murray.

Chism was a lefthanded-hitting first baseman who was a superstar at Chester High School, whose baseball alumni include the likes of Lew Krausse, who pitched 12 years in the big leagues, and former Pittsburgh Pirates manager Danny Murtaugh.

"He was the best natural hitter I ever coached," said his former Babe Ruth senior-league coach, Rich Merchant. His list of pupils included Mike Scioscia, who went on to collect more than 1,000 big-league hits. Merchant said Chism was a better hitter than Scioscia, "and if he was standing here, I would say that to his face."

Chism had a terrific minor-league career, batting close to .300 over seven seasons. Unfortunately, he was stuck behind future Hall of Famer Murray, who also happened to play first base.

Chism's other problem was speed.

"I wasn't fast," Chism said. "All my hits were basically hits. If I could run, I'd be living in a mansion somewhere."

Chism's apartment, which he shares with his son, is crowded with sports memorabilia and mementos of his career - old pictures, signed baseballs. He has a scrapbook with articles, including one about his pinch-hitting for Cal Ripken Jr. when they played for the triple-A Rochester Red Wings in 1981. "I was one of the few guys who ever pinch-hit for Cal Ripken," he said.

Chism also pinch-hit in the famous 33-inning game between Rochester and Pawtucket, the longest professional baseball game in history.

He played in five cities for three organizations, but spent most of his time with the Orioles. He was called up to the big leagues at the end of 1979 and went 0-for-3 in six games. In '83, he was a player-coach in Rochester and did some scouting for the O's.

Without question, Chism was among those who deserved the '83 rings, said Bill Stetka, the Orioles' director of outreach and development. "They are the guys who help the guys get to where they are," he said, "and they don't make a lot of money."

"I don't have any regrets," said Chism, who today looks to be a good 40 pounds over his playing weight, 195, but still has a babyish face. "I loved every second of my career. I gave it everything I had."

He does have one more baseball-related dream: to find that ring. Merchant and some other Delaware Countians are hoping to persuade the Orioles to reissue one. They plan to travel to Camden Yards next month when the Orioles host the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, and meet with Angels manager Scioscia. They would like nothing better than to have the Orioles present Chism with a ring at that time.

They might have a shot. Twice in the last year, the Orioles have replaced rings, Stetka said. In one instance, the ring had been stolen. In the other, a ring was buried with a former player, and the family requested a replacement.

"Of course, I would love to get it back," Chism said. "That's my goal in life."