It's not much of a shirt, it's true. It's torn. It's dirty. Being buried in the concrete under a stadium construction project and then being drilled out by jackhammers will do that to you.
But the David Ortiz jersey that a construction worker buried under the site of the new Yankee Stadium is a quirky piece of baseball history -- and it sold this afternoon for $175,100 on eBay.
The bid from Kevin Meehan, the owner of Imperialcars.com in Mendon, was the highest of 282 for the battered No. 34 David Ortiz jersey.
"I actually thought it was going to sell for more money," said Meehan, who bid only in the final moments of the weeklong eBay auction that ended at 12:30 p.m. "I have three young boys that I take to the games and they would have killed me if I didn't buy the shirt."
The Yankees, despite being the targets of the would-be curse, donated the jersey to the Red Sox' official charity, the Jimmy Fund, which auctioned it off to raise funds for cancer care and research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Mike Andrews, The Jimmy Fund chairman and former Red Sox second baseman, said the charity was "absolutely thrilled."
"We are grateful for the generous bid, and extend our deep gratitude to the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox for coming together again in the fight against cancer," he said in a statement.
Meehan said he was eager to give to the Jimmy Fund because his father died of cancer and his stepfather has the disease.
"It's personal," he said. "It's a lot deeper than just the shirt."
Meehan plans to eventually display the jersey from his favorite Red Sox player in one of his car dealerships. He said he has no intention of selling it.
"It was just a win-win all the way around," said Meehan, who also will receive a new Ortiz jersey, a Yankees T-shirt and two tickets to a Red Sox game where he will be presented with the unusual piece of sports memorabilia.
Construction worker Gino Castignoli, a Red Sox fan from the Bronx, dropped the jersey into two feet of wet concrete during construction of the new stadium, hoping to hex the Yankees. The team found the jersey after receiving information from anonymous tipsters and had it jackhammered out.
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Originally Posted by smokey the elder
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