The New York Daily News’ Wayne Coffey reports embattled former Yankee trainer Brian McNamee is about to put his sizeable stash of autographed Roger Clemens swag — hats, photos and baseballs (sorry, no syringes) — up for auction.
Six weeks after his nationally televised congressional showdown with Clemens, McNamee has turned over the entire collection to Phil Castinetti, owner of Sportsworld in Saugus, Mass., one of the biggest sports-memorabilia dealers in New England.McNamee is also selling other items signed by Jose Canseco, Andy Pettitte and Jason Grimsley.
“He was going to throw this stuff away,” said Castinetti, who has already begun listing the items on eBay and believes the pieces could generate up to $75,000 in all. “Because of the hard feelings between him and Clemens, he wanted nothing to do with it.”
Steve Cardillo, a co-owner of American Nutrition Company in Everett, Mass., and a friend of both McNamee and Castinetti, is the man who convinced McNamee to auction the items rather than toss them, suggesting the funds be earmarked for juvenile-diabetes research (McNamee has a son who is a diabetic).
“You might as well make something good out of a bad situation,” Cardillo said.
At Castinetti’s suggestion, McNamee added his own signature next to Clemens’ on most of the items being sold.
“There are millions of Roger Clemens autographs out there,” said Castinetti, speaking on his cell phone as he headed down to the Stadium for last night’s Yankee home opener. “There are maybe 30 or 40 of Clemens and McNamee together. That’s the whole thing with this hobby now – the limited editions are really where it’s at. Hard-core collectors are going to want something like this.”
In one photo being offered for sale, Clemens wrote, “Cy 6” next to his name, in commemoration of his sixth Cy Young award. Beneath it, McNamee signed his name and added “Ly 0” – as in “telling zero lies,” said Castinetti, who believes the value of the collection “will spike even higher” if federal investigators find evidence that Clemens committed perjury during his congressional testimony.