World Series ring on eBay for $500,000
Fans whose hearts bleed Red Sox and wallets burst with green could score a 2004 World Series ring - for a mere half-million bucks.
That's the asking price on eBay for the Red Sox bling, put up for auction by an ex-Sox employee.
The starting bid: $150,000.
Or bidders can skip the auction process by buying the series ring for the whopping $500,000.
It is quite a markup from the $16,300 appraised value of the ring, according to the seller, a former Sox front office employee who asked to remain anonymous. The seller provided proof of his identity to the Herald, but said he feared revealing his name would spark a nasty outcry from die-hard fans who waited 87 years for the championship and would consider the sale sacrilege. He said he can provide a certificate of appraisal proving the ring's authenticity, which has yet to be verified by the Herald
The seller admitted he wasn't a big Sox fan, and that made it easier to put the ring up for sale. Selling it, he wrote in an e-mail, would go a long way toward repaying debt and putting his kids through college.
"I see myself as a father first, and a man, and my ultimate job and responsibility are to the well being of my family and their future. So if by selling this ring I can eliminate the over $50,000 of student loans I have, start a college fund for the children, buy a home outright or with a good down payment, then I think it is obvious what I should do," the seller noted.
"Many will be angered to hear someone is selling off a piece of the Red Sox history and I do not wish to hear from the thousands of fans who think I am doing something wrong, when I am simply doing the right thing by my family," the seller said.
No bid had been made on the ring as of last night. But the former Sox employee said past interest by Sox fanatics to get hold of a ring prompted the high asking price.
"Remembering that Bill Buckner's 1986 AL championship ring sold at auction for $51K, I placed the value of my ring at over $100K," the seller said. "Obviously, the (World Series) ring is more valuable."
While Sox spokesman Charles Steinberg confirmed a front office employee during the 2004 season would have received a championship ring, he considered the eBay asking price high. "It surprises me to hear those numbers and it doesn't surprise me to hear that someone has not yet bid that number," Steinberg said.