FBI officials have returned four baseballs carrying presidential autographs to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York.

According to the FBI and the Hall of Fame, five baseballs signed by Presidents William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Calvin Coolidge, Warren Harding, and Herbert Hoover were stolen from the museum's presidential collection in 1972.

The five baseballs were stolen out of a collection of six donated by the family of Hall of Fame pitcher Walter Johnson. The baseballs, which were donated to the museum by Johnson's family in 1968, included the five balls signed by Taft, Wilson, Coolidge, Harding, and Hoover, as well as an additional baseball signed by Theodore Roosevelt, which remained safely in the Hall of Fame when the others were stolen nearly 30 years ago.

According to an FBI spokesperson, the Harding ball had been returned to the museum in April 1999 when Johnson's grandson, Hank Thomas, spotted it in a baseball memorabilia catalog. He contacted Major League Baseball security, and they recovered the ball.

Thomas saw another of the balls in another memorabilia catalog and again informed Major League Baseball. They notified the FBI, and the remaining four baseballs were recovered in February 2001.

Now that the four baseballs have been returned, the Hall of Fame has a complete collection of baseballs autographed by each president from Taft to George W. Bush, said Jeff Arnett, director of communications and education at the Hall of Fame. "This is a tradition that actually Walter Johnson began with President Taft," Arnett explained. "Every president who has thrown out the ceremonial first pitch on the opening day of the season has signed a baseball that is then given to the Hall of Fame for display. Now the collection is complete."

According to the FBI, the Taft ball was signed in 1910, the Wilson in 1913, Harding in 1921, Coolidge in 1924, and Hoover autographed a baseball in 1929.

Arnett said the Taft ball was appraised at approximately $125,000. Although there was no total appraisal available, Arnett added, "You can probably safely assume that each of the balls is worth something in that general area."

An FBI spokesperson said there were no charges pending, and the case has been closed. The four baseballs were found to be in the possession of two separate collectors, according to Arnett, who said that the individuals had not realized the baseballs were stolen and voluntarily surrendered them.

A report in the New York Daily News traced three of the baseballs back to a former Yankee bat boy who had purchased them for $800 at a card show in 1975 from a man carrying a bag filled with baseball memorabilia, and the balls were later sold to separate collectors. The Daily News reported that the Taft ball had been turned over to the FBI by a Chicago securities industry executive and sports memorabilia collector, who purchased the baseball for $25,000 from a harness racing trainer. The trainer reportedly purchased two of the baseballs, the Taft and the Wilson, for $27,000 from a New Jersey dealer. Neither the FBI nor the Hall of Fame, however, would confirm these reports.

"The only thing we can confirm is that the FBI did a very thorough job in tracking the balls down, and they've been very generous in involving the Hall of Fame," Arnett said. "And we're certainly pleased now that they've been returned to the possession of the museum so they can be put on display once again."