Baseball Hall-of-Famer's Manatee County Home Burglarized

The East Manatee County home of baseball Hall-of-Famer Carlton Fisk was burglarized and thousands in collectible coins were stolen, according to a report from the Manatee County Sheriff's Office.

Michael McClain, the owner of Pest Control by Mike Inc., went to the house which was not occupied at the time to do pest control work when he saw the back door had been taken off of its hinges.

He immediately called the Manatee County Sheriff's Office and the Fisk family, who were out of town. Fisk had family members respond and they identified that some collectible items valued in the thousands of dollars had been taken during the burglary, according to the sheriff's report.

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported that no baseball memorabilia or other valuables were taken.

Dave Bristow, the spokesman for the Sheriff's Office, confirmed that the home is owned by the 64-year-old Baseball Hall of Fame catcher.

“All they took was the coins, there were other things that they didn't take that were of value,” Bristow said. The silver coins were worth thousands of dollars; no baseball memorabilia or other valuable items in the home were taken.

Since no other items were stolen, the Sheriff's Office is considering that the house was not a “random” target, but the burglar knew the coins were there.

McClain told the Herald-Tribune that when he arrived at the house it looked like someone had been using the home.

“There was nobody there at the time, but it looked like they had been helping themselves to the home and facilities,” McClain said. McClain has been taking care of the pest control at the home for about five years, and said he knew Fisk, but did not know he was a Hall of Fame catcher.

Zillow.com shows that the 8,128 square-foot home on 63rd Avenue East is valued at more than $1.1 million. It has three bedrooms and 4 and a half baths and a swimming pool. The home is surrounded by woods and is secluded.

Fisk, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2000, was a catcher for the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago White Sox.