A ballplayer finds long-lost championship ring in wife’s shoe
Rod Barajas may have had a quiet career as a backup catcher, but he can always say he won a ring as a 23-year-old with the Diamondbacks in the 2001 World Series. At least, he could say he won the ring in name only, because he couldn’t show it off after losing it for four years.
Despite having an average season that year, Barajas’s bat woke up in the series as he went 2-for-5 with a home run. Barajas was so overjoyed by the win over the Yankees that he had a matching pendant made for his wife, Stacie. All was well as the two settled down after the series and resumed their lives, at least until they moved.
The couple relocated four years ago from their home in Arizona to a new neighborhood in California. Barajas went to put his ring on one day, but a quick search through his belongings showed nothing. Barajas said he assumed the ring and matching pendant had been lost during the move and left it at that. As the years passed, he said he thought about having a new set made, but never pulled the trigger on the idea, always hoping the missing ring would turn up.
Four uneventful years passed by with no news on the ring until Stacie’s grandmother passed away recently. The couple quickly flew out to the funeral to honor Stacie’s family, and that is where the story gets interesting.
As she put her shoes on for the funeral, Stacie felt something hard hit her foot. She turned the shoe over and the long lost ring and pendant tumbled out onto the floor. How they got in her shoe is up for speculation, but you can bet Barajas is happy to have his ring and pendant back as he gears up for another season and his return to the Diamondbacks as a backup catcher.
