By ERIC AHLQVIST

Editor

Officials from the National Baseball Hall of Fame will be joined by Walter Johnson's grandson, Hank Thomas, on April 26 at Yankee Stadium when Roger Clemens will donate artifacts commemorating his breaking of the Big Train's all-time American League strikeout record earlier this month.

Clemens' breaking of the record coincided with the return of historic baseballs stolen from the Hall of Fame 30 years ago, which were donated by Walter Johnson's son. The balls were recovered by the FBI last week, and will be returned to the Hall of Fame today (Thursday).

"Hank Thomas played an integral part in getting the baseballs returned, and while what happened 30 years ago is unfortunate, we thought it was very important that he be a part of the celebration," said Hall spokesman Jeff Idelson. "Also, having Hank there will help to connect the generations of baseball."

Thomas will return to Cooperstown with the Hall of Fame officials on Friday, and receive a tour of baseball's shrine. Walter Johnson was one of the first class of Hall of Fame inductees in 1939.

In 1972 five baseballs autographed by five United States Presidents for Johnson, who starred on the Washington Senators, were stolen.

One of the baseballs, signed by William Howard Taft in 1910, was the first ball ever thrown out by a president to inaugurate a season and is now worth as much as $500,000, according to a story in last Thursday's Daily News.

The Daily News' story also says a baseball signed by Warren Harding for Johnson was returned to the Hall of Fame by Major League baseball security in 1999 after Thomas spotted it in a catalogue offered by Ron Oser Enterprises, a Pennsylvania auction house. The FBI located the four other baseballs after Thomas saw baseballs signed by Calvin Coolidge, Woodrow Wilson and Herbert Hoover in a catalogue for an auction conducted by Mastro Fine Sports Auctions, an Illinois auction house.

Idelson, one of the Hall of Fame's senior staff members who will travel to Yankee Stadium on the 26th, said Clemens has always been extremely generous to the museum.

He said the Hall expects to receive Clemens' jersey, as well as the pitching rubber from the historic game, and possibly other items as well.

"Roger Clemens understands his place in baseball history," Idelson said. "After his second 20 strikeout game with the Red Sox in 1996, I called the Boston public relations department to ask about acquiring some items, and Roger had already started packing a box of stuff to send to us."

Earlier this month, Hall of Fame Chairman Jane Forbes Clark, President Dale Petroskey, Idelson, and other Hall officials as well as 45 Hall of Famers, took a baseball to Washington and had it signed by George W. Bush. Bush added his name to a baseball that had been previously been signed by Presidents Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush and Gerald Ford.

"One of the great traditions of our collection is to have each president sign a baseball," Clark said. "Every president since President Taft has signed a ball, and the first signature on this ball is Gerald Ford's."