Posted By:
Josh Evans
Wow!
I am in Puerto Rico enjoying the sun and this
Heff, my business partner Mike Heffner, just called me and told me about this small brouhaha
Well, for the record we did buy Monte Irvin’s Hall of Fame plaque from dealer Joe Esposito and the price was $10,000
What Joe paid for it I do not know nor do I care
All I know is that I have known Joe Esposito since I was a kid and have respected and liked him since day one (even though he didn’t always like me)
Unbeknownst to Joe he holds perhaps the highest honor in Lelands circles, by having a “The” preceding his first name
Joe Esposito is known by us not as “Joe” or “Joe Esposito” but as simply “The Joe”
Few hobbyists can boast this tribute
After we bought the plaque and put it in our auction we were contacted by Marty Appel the ex-publicity man for the Yankees and our press agent at the time (still is)
Marty is a dear friend and the people involved knew this (Monte Irvin, Joe Morgan, and sportswriter Bill Madden)
Monte simply wanted his plaque back
He was devastated, plain and simple
We talked about it for a couple of days and then decided to give it back to Monte free and clear
Yes, we ate the full $10,000 and actually were told the purchase price was $1,000
Subsequently, an article was published in the New York Daily News by Bill Madden telling the story and saying something nice about us
Did we do it for the publicity?
Absolutely not
Were we aware that we would benefit from it publicity wise?
Absolutely
But as far as doing this because of any kind of “pressure” that is simply not true
We have reaped tremendous benefits from the players and in this hobby overall and we simply wanted to give something back
I don’t know about you but it is pretty hard to say no to Monte Irvin for a lousy ten grand when you sell millions of dollars of memorabilia each and every year and have enjoyed a comfortable and exciting life doing what you love because of it
These was and never will be any mention of this gesture on our website, we ran no ads boasting this, I never bragged about it at the corner bar
When people approached me and said nice things I was frankly surprised
That was worth a lot more than the money
This little event just came and went
I had actually forgotten about it until this post
And that makes me feel good both personally and professionally
As for my conversations with Rick Kohl he did approach me at the National that year and was extremely upset
If I remember correctly he was nearly in tears
He told me that this had really affected him in a deep way
I felt awful
As far as any judgments of Rick Kohl in this situation or any other I will allow better men than I to make those judgments
Josh
01-18-2008, 04:49 PM
Broadway Rick
. I bought piles of cards from Rick and talked to him for hours as well. That was around 1988 or so
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