March 7, 200422 yr more ring info from the miami herald: FITTING: Marlins left fielder Jeff Conine models club owner Jeffrey Loria's World Series ring Friday. Conine and his teammates will get their rings April 10. The Marlins unveiled their World Series championship rings Friday. AP PHOTO Ringing in the season in a big way Each of 85 World Series rings -- courtesy of club owner Jeffrey Loria -- features more than 240 gems and is believed to cost about $20,000. By CLARK SPENCER cspencer@herald.com JUPITER - Forget pectorals and biceps. Of all the areas the Marlins should be concentrating on this spring, it's the tendons in their ring fingers. They're going to need the extra strength to bear the staggering weight of their World Series rings, a sample of which was unveiled Friday by club owner Jeffrey Loria. It's a whopper. Check that. It's a quarter-pounder with gobs of expensive cheese, an eye-fattening 110 grams of gold and gems, most of them diamonds. The ring is so bodacious that when manager Jack McKeon tried Loria's on for size, his arm fell to the floor. He was exaggerating, but not by much. ''You wear that thing on a subway in New York,'' McKeon said, ``and you better have three or four bodyguards.'' Said utility player Lenny Harris: ``[Loria] said he was going to get us the biggest ring, and he darn sure got it.'' There are no known records of the world's largest and most elaborate title rings, but the Marlins' could take the cake. It's the size of a hood ornament. It's so massive that when a reporter suggested to McKeon that the ring could also serve as a weighted donut for a bat, the manager laughed and said he might save that line for himself. The ring is twice the weight of a typical championship ring, according to master jeweler Miran Armutlu. ''The design elements used on this have raised the level that is going to be very difficult to match in the future,'' said Armutlu, whose Canadian firm, Intergold, won the right to produce the rings. ``Sculpting of this magnitude has never been done on rings.'' RARE TREASURE Each ring -- 85 will be handed out to players, coaches and employees in a ceremony April 10 when the Marlins face the Philadelphia Phillies -- is encrusted with more than 240 gems: 228 white diamonds, 13 rubies and one rare teal diamond that represents the eye of the fish adorning the top of the ring. ''I tried in my quiet way to get the message across that if they did something special for the fans of South Florida and for themselves, that they would probably see the most glorious and spectacular World Series ring they've ever seen,'' said Loria, an art dealer who made the ring his winter-long project. Loria and other club officials declined to disclose the cost of the rings. Armutlu volunteered only that each ring was ''priceless'' considering how few exist. However, it is believed each ring cost in the neighborhood of $20,000, for a total outlay of more than $1.5 million. Loria said he started looking into the rings three days after the Marlins beat the New York Yankees in the World Series, seeking bids from more than 10 jewelers. ''I wanted to set a new standard for championship rings,'' Loria said. ``I wanted to find something that had never been done before.'' ONE LOOK SAYS IT ALL The ring is so large that it includes each player's name and uniform number, the World Series trophy, the Major League Baseball logo, the logo for the 100th World Series, the team's 91-71 regular-season record and a series-by-series recap of each of Florida's three playoff rounds. ''It lives up to all the hype,'' third baseman Mike Lowell said. 'We said, `There's no way you could put so much information on a ring.' '' Every player except former closer Ugueth Urbina had his ring finger sized after the season. Loria said Urbina chose to have his thumb fitted. Lowell said the ring was so grand that he doubted it would become ''an everyday ring,'' worn only on special occasions. But Harris, who spent 15 seasons in the majors before playing on a World Series winner, won't let his out of his sight. ''As long as I can walk, I'm going to wear that ring every single day,'' he said.
March 8, 200422 yr i went to the game today and saw it on Jeffrey's finger that is one HUGE ring gotta see it to believe it
March 8, 200422 yr Wow. Finally seeing that thing in scale I'm convinced it's bigger than Pierre's noggin.
March 8, 200422 yr Urbina had his thumb fitted. WTF? pssst, Uggy.... it goes on your ring finger there buddy.
March 8, 200422 yr That is one mother of a ring! But I don't think some of these guys are going to complain, especially when you realize that most major league players will never be able to get sized for one
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