Sox memorabilia turns fan's home into 'mini museum'

You can head into Boston to see Fenway Park, or you could visit Joseph Gello's house in Seabrook, N.H.

Gello, 44, has been a Red Sox fan most of his life and said his most prized piece of Red Sox memorabilia is a miniature lighted version of Fenway Park he purchased online for $300 a few years ago.

Gello, a counselor at Haverhill's Alternative School, has been collecting Red Sox items since he was 10 years old and playing Little League in his hometown of Lynn. It started with a few posters and baseball cards.

"I always had something," Gello said. "Now I even have a grill at home that is mounted on a wooden home plate."

His interest in the Red Sox accelerated during the 1975 season.

"That was the year they were in the World Series against the Cincinnati Reds," Gello said. "That was the year they lost in game seven, and at home in Fenway Park. In game six of the series, Carlton Fisk hit the game winning walk-off home run in the 10th inning."

When he met his wife to be, she was a bit taken aback by all of the Red Sox decorations that filled his house.

"When we got married and Torie moved into my house she told me that it was out of control and that we needed to compromise," Joseph Gello said. "She called my house a mini museum because it really was out of control. So I moved my hundreds of Red Sox items into three-themed closets. They are filled with autographs, game tickets, photographs, flags, pennants and more."

Gello and his wife travel into Boston at least a dozen times a year, not to attend a Red Sox game, but to watch the games on big screen televisions in Boston lounges.

"I prefer not to go to a game because for the money we spend on food and parking, it's much cheaper than going to a game," he said.