World Series ring sale is a mystery: Former Foster City mayor, and wife of former big leaguer, Pam Frisella wonders if it’s real

He was referring to her late husband Danny Frisella’s 1969 World Series ring as a member of the champion New York Mets.

But Pam never sold the ring. In fact, she never knew her husband was awarded a ring. He never mentioned it once or showed it to her.

The two met on a blind date in 1970 and were engaged later that year.

Danny Frisella only played three games and pitched a total of just five innings for the “Miracle Mets” and was not on the team’s World Series roster that year when it beat the Baltimore Orioles.

His alleged ring sold at auction in February for more than $35,000. It sold previously at auction in 1992 for $14,000, Pam discovered.

She has spent the past two weeks since getting the call trying to figure out whether the ring is real.

She even contacted old friend and Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan to ask him whether her husband was awarded a ring.

He couldn’t remember.

Then she wondered whether Danny did have a ring and if he perhaps gave it to another girl.

“The whole thing has gotten my head spinning,” said Pam, whose husband died in 1977.

Unfortunately, records for the Mets that season are all long gone and the team does not have proof that Danny Frisella was awarded a ring, Pam said after speaking to a team historian.

The Mets then contacted ring maker Jostens, who reportedly said a ring was never issued to Danny Frisella, Pam said.

“I’m relieved it’s not actually my husband’s ring. I’m glad it’s fake,” she said. Frisella, however, has not heard directly from Jostens yet about the ring.

But the auction house that sold it in February believes the ring is real.

“We have handled multiple 1969 N.Y. Mets championship rings at auction. Upon our examination, the stamping and molding of this ring compares with those perfectly. In addition, the gold content was verified and the diamonds were checked. We have no reason to believe that this example is not as described,” Chris Ivy, director of sports auctions at Heritage Auctions wrote the Daily Journal in an email Wednesday.

Authenticity of the material that Heritage Auctions offers at auction is its top priority, he wrote.

“We stand behind every item that we sell,” he wrote.

The auction house will look into the matter further, he wrote, if claims by Jostens that Frisella was not issued a championship ring are true.

“It would be very odd for a member of any professional championship team to not to receive a ring based on our experience,” Ivy wrote.

Pam said she was prepared to buy the ring if it was real even at its steep price.

The trouble would be to which son she would give it.

It is not clear who owns the ring now or who owned it prior to it selling at auction in February or prior to 1992.

Danny Frisella is a Serra High School graduate who won the College World Series in 1965 as a pitcher for the Washington State Cougars.

He died on New Year’s Day 1977 in a freak dune buggy accident.

The New York Mets were contacted by the Daily Journal Wednesday but team officials did not confirm whether the ring is authentic.

Jostens was also contacted but did not respond.

“I’m just annoyed someone is making money off his name but proud his name is worth so much I guess as well,” Pam said.

bill@smdailyjournal.com

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