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Lot # 1015: 1987 Danny Ainge Boston Celtics Warm Up Jacket

Category: Basketball

Starting Bid: $750.00

Bids: 2 (Bid History)

Time Left: Auction closed
Lot / Auction Closed




This lot is closed. Bidding is not allowed.

Item was in Auction "Fall Classic 2022",
which ran from 11/20/2022 7:00 PM to
12/10/2022 10:00 PM



Danny Ainge was a professional athlete in two sports, one of the rarest of athletes. Displayed is his late 1980s Boston Celtics game worn classic pullover warm-up jacket. Ainge played 14 seasons in the NBA as a shooting guard, eight of those campaigns with the Boston Celtics, and he also played for Phoenix, Portland, and Sacramento. Ainge was an excellent shooter in college at Brigham Young University, and in his senior year, he won the John R. Wooden Award, given to the top collegiate player in the country. In his first practice with the Boston Celtics, Danny's shot was off, so far off that Larry Bird humorously wrote in Drive, his autobiography, that Ainge "shot 0-[for]-2,547." But that off-target shooting didn't last, and Ainge became a valued member of the Celtics, sometimes starting, and at other times coming off the bench to be a significant outside shooting force. He averaged 11.3 points per game in his years as a Celtic, and he helped the team to two NBA Championships. Ainge also played professional baseball, and he made the Major Leagues with the Toronto Blue Jays while he was still in college at Brigham Young University. He hit .220 lifetime with the Blue Jays, and he is the second youngest player in Blue Jays' history to hit a home run, at 20 years and 77 days. Only star slugger Vlad Guerrero Jr. did it younger. Ainge is in a small group of only 13 athletes who have played in both the NBA and Major League Baseball, a few of whom are Gene Conley, Dick Groat, Dave DeBusschere, Cotton Nash, Ron Reed, and The Rifleman TV series star, actor Chuck Connors. The warm-up jacket shows great wear, with some very slight fading of the white color, because of age. Overall, the jacket is in excellent condition. It has "CELTICS" in green letters with gold trim on the chest. The NBA logo is on the upper right chest. Each sleeve features the classic green Celtics shamrock, trimmed in gold. The back of the warm-up has a green nameplate with "AINGE" in white block letters. Some of the threads on the nameplate are loose. The collar has a tag that gives the year as "87." Next to that is a Sand-Knit manufacturer's tag that reads, "Designed and tailored exclusively for the Boston Celtics/National Basketball Association." Next to that in the collar is another Sand-Knit tag, with this tag showing the size as "44." The jacket has metal snap buttons and an elastic waistband. The combination of the really beautiful warmup jersey being worn by a rare two-sport star who played for the iconic Boston Celtics makes this jersey a fascinating addition to any sports collection.

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