Harry Caray's CEO Wins Blackhawks Forward Andrew Shaw's Stitches At Auction

By Chuck Sudo in News on Aug 26, 2013 3:40PM

Andrew Shaw provided one of the more dramatic moments in the Blackhawks Stanley Cup championship run when he took a puck to the face in Game 6, blood streaming from the wound after he received stitches as the Hawks celebrated on the TD Garden ice.

Shaw placed the stitches up for auction earlier this month with the proceeds benefiting the V Foundation for Cancer Research and the winning bidder was Grant DePorter, CEO of Harry Caray Restaurant Group, who paid $6,500 for the stitches encased in a frame with an autographed photo of Shaw.

DePorter is no stranger to buying iconic Chicago sports memorabilia. He paid $114,000 for the “Bartman ball,” the foul ball Cubs fan Steve Bartman tried to catch during the 2003 National League Championship Series; some Cubs fans still blame the ballclub’s collective meltdown after that incident on Bartman. DePorter took the ball and, in a stunt worthy of P.T. Barnum, had it blown up in an enclosed case.

DePorter also tried in vain to obtain the puck Patrick Kane scored with to clinch the Hawks’ 2010 Stanley Cup. (That puck’s whereabouts are still unknown.) DePorter said Shaw’s stitches will hang from the walls inside Harry Caray’s Navy Pier restaurant once they arrive.