Estranged husband of Jessica Steinbrenner selling Yankees championship rings
Former New York Yankees executive Felix Lopez is ready to empty out his jewelry box.
According to an Associated Press report, Lopez, who’s also the estranged husband of Jessica Steinbrenner (the daughter of late owner George Steinbrenner), is planning to auction off six World Series rings and multiple league championship rings that reportedly belong to him. The auction house Hess Fine Art confirmed the sale on Friday.
Here’s an excerpt from the press release:
Hess Fine Art, one of the biggest online auction sellers in the United States has been picked to sell the exclusive collection of Felix Lopez, former Executive VP of Yankees’ Org and his New York Yankees rings this Wednesday December 14th on theonline Auction platform of invaluable.com. This exclusive collection includes 6 World Series rings (as well as the coveted 2000 year ring) and League Championship rings.
“All will be accompanied by a signed letter from the Lopez Family,” said Jeffrey P. Hess, of Hess fine Auctions, a division of Hess Fine Art.
The release also referred to Lopez as a driving force in baseball for the last 10 years.
For those not familiar with Lopez, he was a Yankees senior vice president from 2005-09. He later transitioned into the executive vice president role, which he held until this year. Among his responsibilities were handling the daily operations at the team’s spring training home and minor league complex in Tampa, FL.
For those who are familiar, it’s probably because Lopez has been at the center of some interesting storylines. While serving as Yankees’ executive vice president and chief international officer in 2013, Lopez took part in a press conference in the Dominican Republic announcing a new privately funded $50M million baseball stadium set to be built outside of La Romana.
According to reports at the time, no one involved with the Yankees, including brother-in-law Hal Steinbrenner, was aware of Lopez’s involvement in the project. Lopez would go on to oversee the Yankees Latin Baseball Academy as well as player development in Latin America
In 2015, there were reports that Lopez had been fired from his position with the Yankees. Those reports were ultimately refuted, though his time there obviously didn’t last much longer.
Lopez and Steinbrenner were married in 2004. She filed for divorce in July in Florida and was granted a protective order on Tuesday.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
