As reported yesterday by ESPN, the Hall of Fame former Cardinal shortstop Ozzie Smith will be selling a large chunk of his MLB hardware via the SCP Actions company. The list of items includes: All 13 of his Gold Gloves, 11 All-Star Game rings, and most notably, his Cardinal National League championship rings from 1985 and 2004, and the Cardinal World Series rings he was given by the team after the 2006 and 2011 championships.
The reason given for this purge was only “estate and family planning” via a press release.
“I am honored to share a portion of the memorabilia from my professional baseball career with fans and collectors,” Smith said in a statement Tuesday evening. “My family and I have decided together which of my pieces to keep and which to share. I will forever cherish every experience associated with earning these awards that I shared with the Cardinal Nation and the baseball community. I hope those who are passionate about collecting and preserving such items will gain a similar measure of joy through their ownership.”
We get selling the World Series rings from 06 and 11. You weren’t on that team, plus it was Tony’s team and you guys aren’t close. We love you Oz, but we’re not even sure why you have those rings, so definitely sell them before someone notices. As for the other stuff…aww, dude. Seriously? What does a 1995 Roberto Clemente Award even go for these days? Is that cool to have?
“Hey, what’s that?”
“That? …oh that’s just Ozzie Smith’s 1995 Roberto Clemente Award. The award given to the player that best exemplifies the game of baseball, sportsmanship, community involvement and the individual’s contribution to his team.”
“Ah, ok. …cool man. Pretty neat stuff. Any like real awards though? MVP or something?”
Bidding on the collection is from November 14th to December 1st, 2012. Get your kid something nice this year, like a 1991 Gold Glove from a old guy he’s kinda heard of instead of that stupid video game system. He’ll just end up playing with it, and that’s time he should be using to stare at the collectors item you won’t let him touch!
via ESPN