A GREAT CATCH\Campanella memento on way home.

Byline: Dennis McCarthy Daily News Columnist

To fully understand why the lost pendant meant so much to Roxie Campanella, you have to go back to Brooklyn in 1955 when her late husband, Roy, and the rest of Dem Bums finally beat those Damn Yankees in the World Series.

The borough of Brooklyn went wild, turning into one long block party. They'd finally beaten that cocky, pin-striped borough on the other side of Manhattan - the Bronx.

"It was always 'Wait until next year' for us back then," Roxie was saying Thursday from her Woodland Hills home. "Roy thought they'd never win a World Series because of the Yanks."

But the bums did in 1955. The Boys of Summer beat the Bronx Bombers, and no Dodger played harder or with more heart than Roxie's husband - Hall of Fame catcher Roy Campanella, who passed away in 1993.

One of the post-season mementos a jubilant Dodger owner Walter O'Malley bestowed on his team that year was a jeweled, heart-shaped, World Series pendant for the players to give to their wives.

For the past 41 years, Roxie has hung hers proudly from a gold chain around her neck whenever she goes out socially.

"Roy had a diamond put in it for me, and I've always cherished the pendant because he worked so hard to win it," Roxie said. "It's something you can't buy or replace. That's why I was so devastated."

Early last month, while waiting with her daughter, Joni Roan, to change planes in a terminal at the Dallas-Forth Worth Airport in Texas at 1 a.m., a tired Roxie left behind her jewelry case with the pendant in it when she boarded the plane.

"I knew the moment I got on board that I'd left it behind, but when we went back to get it, the case was gone," she said. "We contacted lost and found, but it had not been turned in."

Thus began a long-shot search via newspapers across the country that finally paid off Thursday when Roxie got the news that her pendant had been found in an Irving, Texas, pawnshop.

The search started when Roxie and Joni returned from the trip last month, and took the advice of a friend who suggested they put an advertisement in The Dallas Morning News, announcing a reward for the pendant if found.

One of the paper's sportswriters noticed the small ad, and called up Roxie, wanting to write a story about the lost pendant. From there, stories about Roxie's search for her World Series pendant soon appeared in other newspapers, including the national publication, USA Today.

In the meantime, Roxie and Joni began getting crank phone calls from con men wanting the women to send them money with the promise they'd return her pendant.

"We finally got one call that sounded halfway real from a man who said he was a baggage-claim attendant at the airport where it was lost," Joni said.

"He said he wanted to return it to us out of respect for my dad, but he was afraid of the police finding out. We couldn't agree on how to make an exchange of a reward for the pendant, and he never called back again.

"You could tell Mom was depressed and having a hard time sleeping," Joni said. "That pendant from my dad was a very big part of her life and the memories they shared together."

Another person who read the story in USA Today was Vince Santoscoy, owner of Loan Star Pawn in Austin, Texas.

Vince didn't know much about baseball history, but he knew valuable keepsakes when he saw them.

"I remember thinking after reading about a description of the pendant that I'd keep an eye out for it," Vince said Thursday. "Sure enough, it showed up in my shop on Wednesday."

It showed up in the hands of an 18-year-old girl who wanted to know if the big diamond in the pendant was real, and how much Vince thought it was worth.

"I told her I didn't think it was real, but I knew it was," he said. "I told her I could go a couple of hundred bucks for it.

"I didn't want to get in too deep with my own money because I knew I'd have to turn the thing over to police, and maybe be out the money."

When the girl balked at the price, Vince offered her $300, saying he was a big sports fan of the Dodgers.

"The guy with her said that they could get more money for it somewhere else," Vince said. "Luckily, she also wanted to pawn her bike, so I bought it for $30.

"The law requires I get identification for anything I buy, so she showed me her driver's license. That's how I knew who she was."

Worried that she might sell the pendant to someone who might "pop the diamond out and melt down the silver (pendant)," Vince sent his cousin to follow the girl when she left his shop Wednesday.

"I then called a cop friend who intercepted her and got the pendant back," Vince said.

Irving police have turned the investigation over to the Dallas-Forth Worth Airport police because the girl trying to pawn the pendant turned out to be a part-time employee of a security firm at the airport.

With Roxie's pendant now in hand Wednesday, Vince realized he couldn't remember who it belonged to. Like I said, he wasn't up on his baseball history.

"I knew he (Roy) was either an ex-owner or ballplayer for the Dodgers," Vince said.

So, his first call was to Brooklyn. Vince thought the Dodgers were still playing ball there. Later, he got Roxie's name and number from the reference library at USA Today.

"She sounded like a real nice lady," Vince said. "I'm glad it worked out this way because she should have that pendant back. It's a big part of her life."

On Monday, Vince will find out for himself how nice Roxie is when she attends a 10 a.m. news conference at the Irving police station to receive her pendant and meet Vince Santoscoy.

"I'm so excited," Roxie said Thursday. "I thought I'd never see it again."

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PHOTO

(1 -- color) The pendant turned up Wednesday. Associated Press (2 -- color) Roxie Campanella lost the piece of jewelry from her husband, Baseball Hall of Fame catcher Roy, in an airport in Texas. Michael Owen Baker/Daily News