Tweet
Just in from the NY POST:
The 9/11 Mike Piazza jersey is coming home.
Home to New York. Home to the fans. Even home to the Mets, who made a colossal mistake selling the jersey in a private sale three years ago.
Anthony Scaramucci and Tony Lauto and an anonymous third business partner, all of them huge Mets fans, came to an agreement in principle Thursday to buy the jersey, The Post has learned. The jersey will sell for approximately $355,000, making it the most expensive modern day jersey.
Scaramucci and Lauto worked hard to set up the deal so the jersey can spend time at Citi Field, as well as the 9/11 Memorial Museum and at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.
“We had too many friends die in those buildings to let that jersey go anywhere else,’’ Scaramucci, founder of Skybridge Capital, told The Post. “Tony and I wanted to make sure that jersey stays in New York.
“We talked to Mike, he’s happy. We talked to Vince [Piazza], he’s happy.’’
Modal TriggerAnthony ScaramucciPhoto: Reuters
This was the jersey Piazza wore on the night of Sept. 21, 2001, when he hit a dramatic two-run home run against the Braves that helped New York get back on its feet again after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
“What Mike did on that night was something we’ll all never forget and what it symbolizes,’’ Scaramucci said. “This jersey represents so much. There is tremendous artistic symbolism to this thing. This is about picking yourself up, no matter what happens in life, and going back into life and hitting home runs.”
Scaramucci and Lauto shelled out the big bucks, but they want the jersey — which was sold by Goldin Auctions for its consignor — to belong to the fans. The last thing Scaramucci and Lauto, former head trader at Goldman Sachs, wanted was for this jersey to wind up out of the country.
The three partners also have a small “slice’’ of Mets ownership; Scaramucci also is host of “Wall Street Week” on FOX Business Network.
The Mets made no attempt to buy back the jersey, after selling it for a small profit three years ago and then having that owner lend it to their museum at Citi Field. But that owner took the jersey back, and the Mets — having parted with it for a few pieces of gold — were left without a significant baseball relic, one of the most important pieces of their history.
Your browser does not support iframes.
The Piazza family tried to buy the jersey privately, but dropped out once the online bidding hit $90,000. The sale price eclipses the previous high paid for a modern day jersey — $303,000 for the Kirk Gibson limp-off home run jersey from the 1988 World Series.
Scaramucci and Lauto hit a home run for all baseball fans, who will get to see this remarkable piece of history: a No. 31 jersey with the American flag on the back collar, and the date 9-11-01 on the sleeve bordered by two more American flags.
Baseball has always been a game about coming home. The 9/11 Piazza jersey is home where it belongs.
Comment