A bronze bust of former Kansas City Royals third baseman George Brett was found in a roadside box Friday after it was stolen this week from the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame.
An unidentified person found the box in a ditch near the Lake of the Ozarks community of Camdenton and called Camden County sheriff's deputies, the sheriff's office said. Camdenton is about 130 kilometres from Springfield, site of the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame.
The box was closed with duct tape and labelled, ``Please return to the police, stolen property,'' the sheriff's office said.
The bust, valued at $10,000 to US$15,000, disappeared Monday or Tuesday night from outside the Springfield museum, where it was part of a ``legends walkway'' with about 15 other busts of Missouri athletes.
``We are very pleased to be getting it back,'' Hall of Fame operations director Marty Willadsen said Friday.
Brett had 3,154 hits and batted .305 during a 21-year career with Kansas City. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999.
© The Canadian Press, 2007
