Sudbury man says he's got new clues in search for Babe Ruth's piano

The legend of the piano sprang from the days when Ruth owned a cabin on Willis Pond in the 1920s. According to legend, Ruth pushed the piano into the pond during a party.

Recently, Kennedy, 51, got some new information that could help crack the case.

Kennedy said Steve and Charlie Barry, two brothers who grew up near Willis Pond, told him they saw an abandoned piano on the pond's shore as early as 1963, and that they tipped it into the water about a decade later.

Kennedy says the Barry brothers have helped him focus his efforts on a smaller area of the pond where the piano could be. Kennedy says he's taken over a dozen dives in the past decade to recover what's left of the instrument. He's never found any part of the piano -- he did pull up a tractor engine at one point -- but plans more dives soon.

"It's kind of like finding Paul Bunyan's ax," he said. "I've never been more encouraged that we're going to find it."

Kennedy admits that at times his wife is less than enthusiastic about the quest.

"It's taken time away from the family, certainly," Kennedy said. "She's European, so she doesn't quite understand how big Babe Ruth is."

The piano has been elusive -- but not as elusive as the World Series championship that the post-Ruth Red Sox yearned for until 85 years after Ruth was sold to the Yankees. The Red Sox finally won championships in 2004 and 2007.

"I just don't want to see it end up in New York. I wake up in the middle of the night sweating about this," Kennedy said. "We gotta get it! We just can't let that happen!"