Beloved park statue returned to rightful place

TEXAS CITY, TX (KTRK) -- After a three week road trip, a Texas City pint-sized icon is back on home turf at Godard Park where Little League baseball is played.

A 200 pound bronze statue of a boy with a baseball bat, called "Out of the Park," was stolen on April 10 in the middle of the night, towed off its base by a pickup truck with a chain.

Texas City police assumed the thief or thieves would have dispatched of it as scrap metal, suspected it would have been taken far out of the area or even state.

Instead, after Eyewitness News aired a story of the public art heist, a viewer recognized it. The viewer owns an EZ Pawn Shop on East Nasa Road One. The statue had been pawned there a few days after the theft.

The store manager said the man who asked for a dolly to remove it from the back of an old pickup truck. He said it was an "old family heirloom." Manager Pamela Patton says the man wanted money -- a lot of money. He did not get what he asked for. Surprisingly, he opted to pawn it rather than sell it outright.

When notified, police quickly retrieved the statue and turned it over to a machine shop for refurbishing.

Meanwhile, Adam Durwood Curry, 41, is charged with theft, and awaiting transfer to the Galveston County Jail. One more arrest may be made in the case as well.

Today, all's well that ends well in Godard Park. "Out of the Park" is back on its base, to the delight of kids who play here. A young boy and his friend asked, "Is that a new statue or the old one."

"It's the original," replied Deborah Wrigley.

The young boy flashed a big smile and said one word: "Cool."

Play ball!