The 2017 Houston Astros World Series ring that was put on auction just last month has now been pulled off the auction.
Ken Goldin of Goldin Auctions told the The Action Network on Wednesday that he pulled down the ring from auctions and returned it back to the Houston Astros after they reached back out to get it.
Goldin said that the team made him aware that they made all those who got a ring sign an agreement that forbade them from selling it without first offering it back to the team for $1.
“I typically let lawyers handle these situations, but I got involved to implore them that we were donating all the money to (Covid-19) charities and offered to allow us to continue and give them credit for the donation,” Goldin said. “They did not seem to care.”
Goldin said the sale could have generated up to $30,000.
When former Astros scout David Brito sold the ring to the person who consigned it to Goldin, Brito represented that his sale was not bound by any previous agreement. The Astros produced documentation of Brito’s signed agreement.
The idea that players and employees do not fully outright own the rings is not a new one. In 2016, the Chicago Cubs said that the rings they gave, which might be worth up to $250,000 depending on which player owned the ring, had to be offered back to the Cubs for $1.
The Astros were subject to a lot of talk in the industry because the Astros admitted to sign stealing that season. Manager A.J. Hinch, Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora, who was the bench coach in 2017, and new New York Mets manager Carlos Beltran, who was a player on the 2017 team, were all fired.
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