The bid from Kevin Meehan, the owner of Imperialcars.com in Mendon, Mass., was the highest of 282 for the battered No. 34 David Ortiz jersey.
"I actually thought it was going to sell for more money," said Meehan, who bid only in the final moments of the weeklong eBay auction that ended at 12:30 p.m. "I have three young boys that I take to the games and they would have killed me if I didn't buy the shirt."
The Yankees jackhammered the jersey out from under two feet of concrete earlier this month, then donated it to the Jimmy Fund, the Red Sox's official charity that is affiliated with Boston's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Mike Andrews, The Jimmy Fund chairman and former Red Sox second baseman, said the charity was "absolutely thrilled."
"We are grateful for the generous bid, and extend our deep gratitude to the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox for coming together again in the fight against cancer," he said in a statement.
Meehan said he was eager to give to the Jimmy Fund because his father died of cancer and his stepfather has the disease.
"It's personal," he said. "It's a lot deeper than just the shirt."
Meehan plans to eventually display the jersey from his favorite Red Sox player in one of his car dealerships. He said he has no intention of selling it.
"It was just a win-win all the way around," said Meehan, who also will receive a new Ortiz jersey, a Yankees T-shirt and two tickets to a Red Sox game where he will be presented with the unusual piece of sports memorabilia.
Construction worker Gino Castignoli, a Red Sox fan from the Bronx, dropped the jersey in wet concrete during construction of the new stadium, hoping to hex the Yankees. The team found the jersey after receiving information from anonymous tipsters.
"As we said, what was intended to be a dastardly act has turned into something very beautiful, and we hope that these funds will play a small part in the fight against pediatric cancer," the Yankees said in a statement.
Famous Sports Curses!
The David Ortiz jersey that workers found buried in the new Yankee Stadium construction site sells for $175,100 at auction Thursday. The jersey was drilled out from under two feet of concrete earlier this month after a Red Sox fan dropped it in the wet concrete.
The curse turned out to be a blessing for the Jimmy Fund, with proceeds from the auction benefiting the Red Sox's official charity affiliated with Boston's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Curse of the Bambino: Legend has it that Babe Ruth's departure from the Red Sox was the reason Boston hadn't won a World Series since 1918 (Ruth actually left in 1920). In 2004, the curse died forever with a world title.
Curse of Shoeless Joe: Legend has it that the 1919 "Black Sox" scandal (throwing games) was so heinous, the White Sox would never win another World Series. Chicago dispelled the myth by winning the 2005 Fall Classic.
Steve Bartman's unsuccessful grab for a foul ball in 2003 is often blamed for the Cubs not going to the World Series that year. Although not the originator of the curse, many fans say Bartman's play is proof one exists in Wrigleyville.
Curse of the Billy Goat: Chicago's famous Billy Goat Tavern was once owned by a Cubs fan who allegedly placed a hex on the team when he and his goat were ejected from the 1945 World Series due to the animal's foul aroma.
The EA/Madden Curse: Players who appear on the Madden video game cover seemingly come up lame the next season. The list of victims include Shaun Alexander, Michael Vick, Ray Lewis, Donovan McNabb and others.
Curse of Len Bias: Coming off a championship season, the Boston Celtics drafted Len Bias with the No. 2 pick in 1986. Two days later, the former Maryland star died suddenly of a drug overdose. The Celtics haven't won a title since.
That one will be turned around! The Celtics are going all the way this year!
WOOHOO!
~Celticsgirl
Curse of Marty Ball: Marty Schottenheimer's conservative coaching style produced plenty of regular-season success. The curse? Schottenheimer always found a way to lose in the playoffs.
Oldest Oil Paintings Found in Caves
Scientists have found what they described this week as the earliest oil paintings ever discovered.
Murals found on cave walls in Afghanistan prove that painting with oil had been going on in Asia for centuries before artists used the technique in Europe, scientists said this week.
Until now, art historians believed that oil painting started in Europe in the 15th century.
Scientists found the murals in a network of caves where monks lived and prayed in the Afghan region of Bamiyan, according to a statement on the Web site of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, where the ancient paintings were analyzed.
Until 2001, two colossal 6th-century statues of Buddhas stood at the mouth of the caves. Then the Taliban, which then ruled Afghanistan, blew up the statues on the grounds that they were un-Islamic. The action drew international condemnation.
Inside the caves, scientists found murals painted in the 7th century. They show images of Buddha in vermilion robes sitting cross-legged amid palm leaves and mythical creatures.
In 12 of 50 caves, the murals were painted using drying oils -- perhaps from walnuts and poppy seeds -- the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility said.
Its findings on the age of the oil paintings were published this week in The Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry.
"This is the earliest clear example of oil paintings in the world," said Yoko Taniguchi, leader of the team of scientists.
Bamiyan, about 130 kilometers (80 miles) northwest of Kabul, was once a thriving center of commerce and Buddhism. The paintings, scientists say, were probably the work of artists who traveled along the Silk Road, the ancient trade route between China, across Central Asia's desert to the West.
The Taliban used dozens of explosives to demolish the Buddha statues in Bamiyan.
Museums and governments around the world had hoped to save the two Buddhas, the earliest of which is thought to have been carved into sandstone cliffs in the third century A.D.
At heights of 53 meters and 36 meters, the statues were the tallest standing Buddhas in the world.
Later in 2001, U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban following the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
Now, the United Nations cultural agency, UNESCO, is trying to restore the bigger of the two statues. The task could take years.
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