Red Sox Features On wbztv.com
Apr 24, 2008 7:48 pm US/Eastern
Mendon Car Dealer Buys Ortiz Jersey For $175,100
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
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In shreds from the jackhammers, the shirt was cleaned up and sent to the Jimmy Fund.
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A car dealer from Mendon won the online auction of the tattered David Ortiz jersey that was buried in the new Yankee Stadium.
Kevin Meehan's winning bid was $175,100. "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."
Meehan told WBZ he plants to put the shirt in his new dealership,
Imperial Ford in Mendon.
He also gets a new Ortiz jersey, a New York Yankees Universe T-shirt and two tickets to a Red Sox game this season.
The auction began last Thursday on
eBay and ended at 12:30 p.m. Thursday. The starting bid was $500. There were 282 total bids.
All proceeds will go to the Jimmy Fund, the children's cancer charity affiliated with Boston's 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."
Construction worker and Red Sox fan Gino Castignoli buried the shirt under two feet of cement during the construction of the new stadium hoping to curse the Yankees. When the Yankees found out about it, they dug it up earlier this month.
Yankee President Randy Levine had the shirt cleaned up and sent to the Jimmy Fund. The Yankees said it cost about $30,000 to dig up the jersey.
As for the man who buried the shirt, Castignoli tells WBZ that he is glad the jersey didn't go to a Yankee fan.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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