What was originally thought to be a perfidious plot to denude Munster lawns of yard gnomes has been discovered to be a much less sinister affair.

As it turns out, the little guys just wanted to play a game of baseball.

At the beginning of the month, a number of Munster residents reported 34 cases of gnome-napping and on July 3, Hammond police received a mysterious call alerting them that if they wanted to find the gnomes, they needed to check out the Munster Babe Ruth field in Community Park.

Munster bike police staked out the ballfield until about 11:30 p.m., with no results. But a recheck about four hours later found the gnomes had taken the field.

There were gnomes at first base, second base, shortstop and third. Gnomes pitching and catching and batting.

"Instead of angels in the outfield, we had gnomes in the outfield," Munster police Lt. Ed Strbjak said. "There were 34 of them, so I'd guess there were some gnomes in the dugout and in the stands."

Apparently expecting the eventual arrival of police, the gnomes had been thoughtful enough to bring a couple boxes of doughnuts as well, knowing the concession stand would be closed at that hour.

But, alas, none of the gnomes were apparently tall enough to turn on the lights. Knowing how dangerous it can be to play baseball in pitch-black, police bundled the teams and their fans (worth an estimated $300) into a pair of police SUVs and hauled them down to the station.

No word on the fate of the doughnuts.

Nine gnomes wandered away from the Munster home of Marta Shuya, and she was upset they'd left without telling her where they were going.

"These are sentimental things. I got one from my mother, I got one for Mother's Day and another for my birthday," said Shuya, who noticed her boys missing July 2.

She said she initially felt a little silly calling police. "It wasn't an emergency. It was someone taking yard gnomes. It was a prank. But I'm glad I reported it."

One week ago, she got a call from police saying they'd rounded up some rogue gnomes, and could she come down and take a look at them? "I'm happy," she said. "I got seven of my nine back."

Told they'd been found playing baseball, Shuya said, "I would've like to have seen a picture of that."

But the story does not have a completely happy ending. The remains of three gnomes were found along the third base side of the field, where someone had smashed them into elf-sized pieces.

Maybe they were the umpires.

The opinions are solely those of the writer. He can be reached at markk@nwitimes.com or (219) 933-4170.