World Series Brewers at new West Allis sports memorabilia biz that hopes to be a smash

WEST ALLIS - Two key players on the 1982 Milwaukee Brewers World Series team came to the West Allis downtown where a new sports memorabilia store hopes to smash a home run.

Retired Brewers Jim Gantner and Ben Oglivie signed autographs at the grand opening of 5-E Sports, 1410 S. 72nd St., Saturday afternoon, April 14.

E-5 Sports owner Brian Boyer said he was delighted to bring the baseball celebs to West Allis.

"Ben hasn't been in Milwaukee since 2015," he said, living now in Phoenix. "And Jim Gantner is always a crowd favorite."

He happens to know that because he goes to a lot of autograph sessions, himself. That's how he got many of the autographed player jerseys, photographs, helmets, balls and bobbleheads he now offers in his E-5 Sports store.

Autograph possible

But if anybody wants an autograph by pretty much anybody, Boyer his your man. He even can get a Babe Ruth signed ball, but you'd better have more than a few bucks to buy it, Boyer joked.

For more down-to-earth requests, Boyer has contacts all over the country who can go to signings to snag desired signatures. He will even send over any article the customer wants autographed, within reason.

"I don't want to try to ship a car seat," he said. But baseball bats, for example, are perfectly acceptable, he said.

Every autograph comes with a sticker of authenticity applied by a major company that authenticates autographs, Boyer said.

First at bat

This is his first swing at business, and he named the store after himself.

"E-5 is error on the third baseman," he said. "I was E-5 in Little League."

"I was all hit and no glove," he said with a laugh.

But he grew up to be devastating in other sports. He was an assistant golf pro for the Milwaukee County Parks in the 1990s, he said.

Two 300 games

And he shot not one, but two 300 bowling games and one 298 game.

"Yes, that last shot is a little nerve-wracking," he acknowledged.

Boyer actually holds an associate degree in information technology. But the husband and father of two little girls, ages 4 and 11 months, wanted to follow his passion — sports.

He worked for one of the online sports memorabilia chains for a while and sold bobbleheads in a store on eBay. 

Today, his store in downtown West Allis has 290 bobbleheads for baseball alone. 

"Including four of Bob Uecker," he said.

Major sports

E-5 Sports specializes in sports memorabilia from not only baseball, but football, basketball and a little hockey. They're mainly professional, but some college teams, he said. Although the autographed sports memorabilia wasn't used in games, it represents faithful replicas, he said.

For example, the made-to-be-autographed helmets that bear the signatures of Green Bay Packer greats Paul Hornung and Jim Taylor are the old-style helmets, with two bars on the face masks, Boyer said.

Also among the autographed football memorabilia are items signed by Aaron Rodgers, Jerry Kramer, Davante Adams and James Lofton, all Packers. 

For basketball, offerings that came to mind were autographs of the Milwaukee Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo and former Badgers star Frank Kaminsky who now plays in the NBA.

Baseball greats who have left their mark on various memorabilia include Robin Yount and Cecil Cooper, Boyer said.

Custom framing

Besides offering to get "custom" autographs, E-5 Sports does custom framing of jerseys and photographs.

Prices vary widely, as one might expect. An unframed signed photograph could go for as little as $20. But a signed, framed photo of Giannis goes for $349.

For baseball jerseys, the lowest price is $99. That shoots up to a high of $199 for an autographed Robin Yount jersey.

Football helmets range from $199 to $599 for one that Aaron Rodgers signed.

Welcome

Dianne Eineichner, executive director of Downtown West Allis, celebrated the uniqueness of the downtown's newest addition: “E-5 Sports is a perfect example of the diversity you can find in West Allis Downtown businesses."

E-5 Sports will attract many sports memorabilia enthusiasts to the downtown where they will get to see all the other things the downtown has to offer, she said.