John Lackey has worn jersey No. 41 throughout his entire career, and it is obviously very important to him. When the veteran right-hander was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals from the Boston Red Sox, he had to negotiate in order to keep No. 41. Cards reliever Pat Neshek drove a pretty hard bargain.
On Wednesday, Neshek tweeted a photo of an authentic Babe Ruth autographed baseball and thanked Lackey for the gift. Considering the nature of the exchange, I’d be more inclined to call it a form of payment than a gift.
Huge Thanks to John Lackey for the incredible gift for changing my uni # pic.twitter.com/SFnuTh2d7x
— Pat Neshek (@PatNeshek) August 20, 2014
Baseballs that have been signed by The Babe sell for anywhere between $3,000 to $50,000, depending on the condition. When you consider what some other professional athletes have paid to keep their jersey numbers, Lackey didn’t do all that horribly. Plus, he’s making north of $15 million this season. If Big Hoss wants another autographed Ruth baseball, he’ll just go out and buy one.
H/T Hardball Talk
