Winter Auction 2015 closing February 7
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/8/2015
With nothing but unlimited potential in front of him, the world was Oscar Taveras oyster at the time of his ridiculously untimely death in a car accident just two weeks after the conclusion of the St. Louis Cardinals 2014 season. Both Baseball America and MLB.com ranked outfielder Tavares as the third best prospect in the major Leagues on Opening Day. Sure enough, Taveras’ first big league hit was a monstrous home run against the San Francisco Giants in St. Louis on May 31st. Broadcaster Joe Buck called Taveras’ game-tying pinch-hit home run in the NLDS against the Giants, “the biggest swing of his young big league life”. His ferocious cuts were already drawing comparisons to former Domican slugger, Vladimir Guerrero. Taveras ripped through the minor leagues winning batting titles at three levels including a phenomenal .386 with the Cardinals single-A, Quad Cities team that captured the Midwest League championship in 2011.
This size-10, Midwest League championship ring weighs approximately 30 grams. It has a Quad City River Bandits raised logo on its top with “Midwest League” engraved above the logo and “Champions” underneath with four cubic zirconia gemstones on either side. “River Bandits,” and “2011,” are etched into one side shank above and below a white and yellow QC interlocking logo, with “Taveras,” and “outfield” around an engraved red Cardinals logo on the opposite shank. The second of two minor league championship rings earned by the young man known as “El Fenomeno,” back home in the D.R., it all ended much too soon. This lot is part of the Oscar Taveras collection and all consignor proceeds in excess of minimum bid will be donated directly to the Taveras family.