Fans can step up to the plate for Red Sox CEO’s memorabilia at auction
A Boston auction house is going to take bidders out to the ballpark with an online auction of a team executive’s Red Sox memorabilia — including four World Series trophies.
Items belonging to former Red Sox President and CEO Larry Lucchino, who died in April at the age of 78, will be auctioned starting Saturday with proceeds going to The Lucchino Family Foundation, which funds charities throughout New England.
“My brother, Larry, embodied the spirit of generosity,” said Frank Lucchino, a retired judge from Pennsylvania.
Items include Lucchino’s Commissioner’s Trophy and ring from the curse-ending 2004 World Series in which the Red Sox had to first beat the New York Yankees for the opportunity to face the St. Louis Cardinals in the series. Two other championship trophies from Lucchino’s tenure, 2007 and 2013, are being auctioned along with another one from 2018.
Other items include 2004 and 2007 championship banners that flew at Fenway Park, a couple of stadium seats and a turnstile, and an electric guitar signed by Boston rockers Aerosmith when they played at Fenway in 2010.
Lucchino served as Baltimore Orioles president, leading the effort to build Camden Yards, before doing the same thing for the San Diego Padres — building another new ballpark. In Boston, he helped to assemble the new ownership group led by John Henry and Tom Werner that bought the franchise in 2002. The group opted to renovate rather than replace Fenway Park, which opened in 1912, preserving the oldest ballpark in Major League Baseball for future generations.
The online auction is being handled by Bonhams Skinner. Included in the auction are non-Red Sox items owned by Lucchino, such as a World Series ring won with the Orioles and a Super Bowl ring from Washington.
Robin Starr from Bonhams Skinner said it was an honor for a Boston-based auction house to handle the auction.
“Larry Lucchino’s lasting impact on the Boston Red Sox and Major League Baseball as a whole is undeniable,” she said.
By DAVID SHARP
Associated Press
