AUBURN – Even before Jeremy Jones’ store opened Monday morning at 10, Red Sox fans were phoning and lining up outside.

“I hated to send them away,” the Olympia Sports manager said. By noon, he figured he’d turned away at least 30 people, fans looking for the newly minted American League Championship gear that the players wore Sunday night as they celebrated their pennant win at Fenway Park.

Jones told folks to check back – “every hour if you need to” – to see whether the first clothes had arrived. And people did, until the first box of red shirts came in.

When Boston center fielder Coco Crisp captured the final fly ball Sunday, he unleashed a hungry market.

“People want something to connect with the team,” said Dan Cunliffe, co-owner of Republic Jewelry & Collectibles.

And it’s not just the official stuff they’ve seen on TV. “They want to watch the game and sip from a Red Sox cup.”

It goes for seemingly everything with the team’s logo.

Cunliffe’s store sells everything from baseballs, caps and cards to Monopoly sets, road signs and bottle openers that replay the play-by-play call of the final moments of 2004’s World Series win.

When the team heads to the big playoff series, sales heat up, said Chrissy Ames, Republic’s store manager. Even simple items like the traditional ball cap sell more.

“People want the regular navy with red ‘B’ hat,” she said.

They were selling in store after store. Some retailers, like JC Penney, positioned the Sox coats and jerseys near the aisles Monday morning. Others, such as Wal-Mart, were waiting for the arrival of new clothes to make a prominent splash. Racks of Ortiz and Ramirez T-shirts sat in a secluded corner of the men’s department.

At Cards-R-N at the Auburn Mall, the everyday Sox shirts sat in the common aisle, greeting all who entered Monday. Farther inside the store were Red Sox bobbleheads, golf club covers, baby bibs and fuzzy slippers.

Joy Byron of South China was already hard at work, Christmas shopping for her family of fans, sizes ranging from adult to a child’s 4 for her youngest grandchild.

“We’re big Red Sox fans,” she said, recalling the 2004 Christmas when she bought T-shirts for everyone in the family.

Monday’s prize, however, was the new shirt, especially for Colleen Quint.

When the team charged onto the field Sunday night after Crisp’s catch, Quint was watching from the Fenway right field seats with her two sons, Josh, 17, and Jed, 14.

“Everyone was just going insane,” she said. As she drove home to Minot with her boys – arriving about 3 a.m. – they all figured they’d experienced something they would remember when they were old.

Before noon, Quint stopped by Olympia Sports for the T-shirts they’d seen the players wear. The first box of new shirts, red with “AL Champions” emblazoned across the front, arrived at the Auburn Mall store before 1 p.m.

“I want to be able to capture our moment,” Quint said.