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Giuliani taking heat over Yankee rings?

Thursday, May 10, 2007

With his official interlocking “NY” cap, shiny team jacket and seats near home plate, Rudolph W. Giuliani has often looked as if he might just bleed pinstripes if his beloved Yankees lost a game. Now, as he runs for president, Mr. Giuliani found himself yesterday denying that his affection for the Yankees had been returned by the team in the form of discount diamond World Series rings and free tickets, according to the NY Times.

“I paid precisely what anyone else would pay,” Mr. Giuliani said in response to a report in The Village Voice that explored how he came to possess four commemorative rings identical to those given to players and coaches on its most recent championship teams.

The article focused on whether the $16,000 that Mr. Giuliani paid for the diamond-encrusted rings from championship years 1996 through 2000 represented their real value as jewelry or as sports memorabilia.

The article quoted several people who raised the possibility that Mr. Giuliani may have gotten one of the rings as early as 1997, when he was still mayor, but had not paid for it until years later. In such an instance, under city rules, an official would be required to report the ring as a gift, something Mr. Giuliani did not do.