Despite Hurricane Sandy blowing through the northeast last weekend, there was still a great turnout at this year’s Greater Boston Sports Collectors Club show at Shriners Auditorium in Wilmington on Nov. 4-5.
With 16 guests set to join the 27th annual GBSCC show, four had to cancel, while retired welterweight boxing champion Tony DeMarco was added to the list to make a grand total of 13 past and present celebrity athletes present.
Statuesque
On Saturday, Oct. 20, there was an unveiling of a DeMarco statue on the corner of Hanover and Cross streets in the North End of Boston.
“I’m delighted,” said DeMarco, describing the unveiling to his Wilmington fans. “It’s phenomenal.”
Fighting 70 times in his career, DeMarco said he never dreamt of having a statue made with his face on it.
“Not only is the statue good enough, but it made me six feet taller,” he said.
Signing autographs on Nov. 4 in the same room as the vendors, DeMarco sat alongside his wife Dotty at a table that had copies of his autobiography, “Nardo – Memoirs of a Boxing Champion,” written by DeMarco with Ellen Zappala.
‘Getting the last out’
Selling approximately 315 tickets meant Major League Baseball pitcher Pedro Martinez signed 315 autographs for his fans.
Looking back at the 2004 Red Sox World Series team, Martinez said, “The best memory at first was getting the last out. It seemed like it took forever, and it didn’t really take that long.”
When the last out took place, Martinez felt as he was dreaming.
“Getting off the plane carrying the trophy when we went to the parade, I can never forget the amount of people that I could see,” he said. “It was kind of rainy, kind of cloudy, but I could see so many flags, and so many red symbols that represented the Red Sox that I can still remember like it was some kind of parade in the Dominican Festival.”
These days, Pedro works for his own foundation, called The Pedro Martinez and Brothers foundation.
“Everything I do, I donate to the foundation,” he said.
Martinez’s older brother Ramon, who pitched professionally from 1988-2001, is a pitching coordinator with the Los Angeles Dodgers minor league system. Jesus, the youngest brother of the three, pitched in several minor league teams from 1992-2001, and now he owns a car dealership in Florida.
“We’re doing okay, and spending a lot of time with the family, which is what every baseball player misses,” said Martinez.
For fans
Also at the event was Paul Shorthose, who has been affiliated with the boSox Club fan organization for the past 12 years. He will be taking over reins of the organization as its president in two weeks.
Vice President Steve Hollingsworth, who stood beside Shorthose at the boSox Club vendor table.
“I look forward to being the president of the club one day,” said Hollingsworth. “It’s a great organization. It promotes not only the Red Sox, and their fan base, but it really promotes charities associated with the Red Sox.”
Fans who are passionate about the Red Sox who not only love to go to games, and see the players, and coaches will have a great opportunity to meet them if they are a part of the club.
Affiliated with the club, Shorthose met his favorite Red Sox player David Ortiz at Spring Training in Florida, and Hollingsworth met Dustin Pedroia at a family function boSox Club members were invited to.
For more
· For more information about the GBSCC, go to www.gbscc.com.
· For information about Tony DeMarco, Ellen Zappala, and their book, go to www.tkoTony.com.
· For the boSox club, go to www.bosoxclub.com.
· For more about The Pedro Martinez and Brothers foundation, go to www.pedroacademy.org.
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