Auction News Network

Babe Ruth’s Last Yankee Jersey At Heritage

Anything connected to Yankee great Babe Ruth is likely to excite considerable collector attention, but the jersey that highlights Heritage’s Sports Memorabilia sale early next month is certain to be a particular attraction. It’s the last one the Yankees ever issued to the slugger, a heavy grey flannel number from 1935, after his playing career with the team was effectively over.  Included is the lot is Ruth’s last Yankee Player’s contract, an insult to the legend calling for a payment of $1. Not surprisingly, Ruth never signed.  Heritage expects it will take over $300,000 to take the items home.

Two 1913 Dodgers Uniforms Surface

Major League game jerseys from baseball’s so-called Deadball period—from about 1900 to 1919, when Babe Ruth ushered in the power-hitting era—are rare as old baseball stadiums. This makes Heritage’s recent discovery of two 1913 game worn Brooklyn Superbas/Dodgers uniforms even more unusual. One is a white home jersey, the other a gray uniform for away games. Both belonged to southpaw pitcher Earl Hershey Yingling, who spent two of his five years in the majors with the Dodgers. Heritage hasn’t released an estimate for the items, which are being sold separately, but they’re sure to ignite some major bidding at the auction house’s May Sports Auction.

First Baseball Card, 1863

Babe Ruth’s heyday was still 60-years away when baseball impresario George Wright issued what’s believed to be the first baseball card (featuring himself as a player). It’s known as the “Grand Match at Hoboken” card promoting a 1863 3-day New Jersey event, including 2 days of cricket, and one day of baseball. Opening reserve at the April Robert Edward Auction is $50,000.

Babe Ruth-Al Capone Signed Baseball In Auction

If it isn’t one of the most historic baseballs, it’s certainly one of the strangest. In 1931, both Babe Ruth and gangster Al Capone, two of the most famous figures of the Jazz Age, signed the same baseball. It happened at the behest of Yankee hall of fame pitcher Herb Pennock, whose grandson is selling the ball, which the Mile High Card Co. is offering in an online auction ending January 31st. Current bidding stands at $26,250, but according to a report in The Chicago Sun-Times, the ball may go for as much as $200,000.

$756,000 For Don Larsen’s Perfect Game Jersey

Back in June, when former Yankees great Don Larsen announced his intention to auction the jersey he wore when he pitched the only perfect game in World Series history, he was asked how much he hoped to get for it. “A million,” he told the Associated Press. “Why go cheap?” Last night it sold at Steiner Sports for $756,000– not the homer he’d hoped for, but certainly not cheap.

Beckham’s Speedboat From Olympic Ceremonies To Sell

Of the numerous creative touches at the opening ceremonies of the London Olympics this past summer, probably the most popular was the Queen’s appearance as a skydiving partner to 007 actor Daniel Craig. Only a bit less attention-getting, however, was the entrance of  soccer star David Beckham, who piloted a speedboat carrying the Olympic flame on the last leg of its journey down the Thames. Now Bonhams has announced that it will auction the boat, a 2008 Bladerunner BR RIB 35, at its Brooklands sale on December 3^rd. The cost to its new pilot is expected to be around $403,000.

Games Over, Let The Bidding Begin

Bids for the basketball the U.S. used to defeat China were approaching  $5,000. Javelins, signed speedos, nets, soccer balls, score sheets, goal posts, virtually anything portable from the 2012 Olympics are for sale in official online bidding. Torches used in the opening ceremonies are particularly hot.

Ty Cobb Bat Smashes Record

In the last year of his playing career, Ty Cobb gave a tobacco-juice and pitch stained bat he’d used to a then 19-year old player named Eddie Onslow, who’d joined the Detroit Tigers in 1912. A hundred years later, the bat has sold at the Fan Fest auction in Kansas City for a record $220,000. Onslow’s now 92-year old daughter consigned the Louisville Slugger, which was captured by Denver collector Tyler Tysdale.

Lou Gehrig Home Run Ball May Hit $200,000

Eighty-four years ago, with Babe Ruth on base, New York Yankee legend Lou Gehrig slammed a three-run homer against the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1928 World Series. For years, the ball Gehrig hit has been sitting in the home of a Connecticut woman named Elizabeth Gott, who hopes it will finance her son’s medical school education. When Hunt Auctions offers the ball tomorrow at its All-Star FanFest auction in Kansas City, Mo., it’s predicted to sell for $100,000 to $200,000.

Update: The Lou Gehrig ball sold under the low estimate, for $62,617.

Roberto Clemente Card Hits $432,690

A number of things are unusual about Dmitri Young’s baseball card collection, beginning with the fact that the former major leaguer has one at all. He has kept it in perfect condition—everything in it is graded 10 gem mint– and its focus is rookie cards, of which he has, or had, 500 examples. This weekend he sold the collection in an online collection that brought $2.46m. The top card was the only 1955 Roberto Clemente Topps ever graded 10 gem mint, which sold for $432,690.

First Olympic Marathon Cup Sets Record

In 1896, more than 100,000 Greek spectators were on hand in Athens to cheer as farmer Spyros Louis won the first Olympic marathon. This week, 116 years later, there was cause for another round of cheering as the silver cup he was awarded sold at a Christie’s auction in London for a record $868,000. That was over three times the high estimate, and more than double the previous record for an item of Olympics memorabilia.

The Ball That Made Babe Ruth King

For Babe Ruth fans, July 12, 1921 is one of the great dates in baseball history. That’s when Ruth hit the home run, the 136^th of his career and 33^rd of the season, that crowned him the Home Run King. It happened during an away game, when the Yankees visited the St. Louis Browns at Sportsman’s Park. Heritage is offering the baseball Ruth hit in its Sports Collectibles auction on May 4th-5th. It’s expected to realize upwards of $50,000.

Ayrton Senna’s 1st Formula One Car To Sell

Few examples of Formula One memorabilia can compete with the Tolman TG184-2 that Silverstone Auctions will be offering in the U.K. on May 16^th. It’s the car in which Ayrton Senna made his sensational F1 debut in the 1984 Monaco Grand Prix, after which he raced the car to a third place finish in the British Grand Prix and a seventh in Canada. The F1 racer is expected to fetch about $1.2m.

Ali’s Trunks From “Thrilla In Manilla”

Muhammad Ali’s third and final bout with Joe Frazier was the famous “Thrilla in Manilla” on October 1, 1975. During the battle, Frazer said later, “I hit him punches that’d bring down the walls of the city.” They didn’t bring down Ali, who won the epic bout after the nearly blinded Frazier’s handlers wouldn’t let him answer the call for the 15^th round. On May 12^th, Robert Edward Auctions will offer the cream-colored trunks that Ali wore in the battle. With a reserve of $25,000, they’re estimated to sell for more than $50,000.

$250,000 Expected For Olympic Marathon Cup

Spyros Louis, a one-time Greek water carrier, won the first modern running of the Olympic marathon 116 years ago. 17 runners started that race, 10 finished, but one was later disqualified when it was discovered he rode part of the way in a carriage. Louis was presented with a richly embellished silver cup now consigned by his family to Christie’s for its Olympic posters and icons sale next month in London.