Yankee Auction Striking Out

Bidding For Yankee Memorabilia Not As High As Expected; Last HR Ball Pulled Off Block

(AP)  Not even Yankee pride can overcome the poor economy.

The last ball hit out of Yankee Stadium didn't leave the auction block Saturday in a memorabilia auction celebrating Bronx Bombers history.

The ball, smacked by catcher Jose Molina on Sept. 21, was one of several big ticket items that failed to sell in early bidding at Madison Square Garden on a trove of Yankees artifacts.

It was expected to fetch up to $400,000, but was pulled after offers fell short of the suggested opening bid of $100,000.

At least one fan on hand for the sale was disappointed.

"I was at that game. I sat in the upper deck up in right field," said Scott Melman, 24, of Manhattan. "I was hoping to see that ball go."

A collection of 15 World Series and American League championship rings that once belonged to former Yankees owner Del Webb was also pulled by the Guernsey's auction house after the high bid of $325,000 fell short of expectations.

The gold rings from 1947 to 1964 had been expected to sell for up to $700,000.

More than 400 items linked to the storied franchise were on the block, including Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig's insurance policies, old ticket boxes and game balls, and more than 100 architectural drawings of the original Yankee Stadium.

More than half of the items came from a New Jersey collector.

About 100 people came to the Garden and bid several hundreds of dollars for baseball card vending machines, pictures of Yankee Stadium under construction and posters signed by Mantle and Joe DiMaggio.

Mickey Mantle's 1949 Plymouth convertible, expected to fetch between $50,000 and $70,000, sold for $34,000.

Bids were expected later Saturday for a three-page handwritten letter that Mantle wrote to his then-fiancee in 1951, a month after his arrival in New York City.

A 1918 pitching incentive agreement for Ruth was expected to fetch bids as high as $900,000. The stained, handwritten document offers Ruth an extra $1,000 if he won 24 games, and $2,000 if he won 30 games in the 1918 season.

"It brings memories back of when I was a kid," said Joseph Pierre, 70, peering through glass at photographs of DiMaggio. And Pierre doesn't even root for the Yankees.

"I'm a Dodger fan," he said, "but I love baseball."

Molina's home run ball, hit in the Yankees' 7-3 win over the Baltimore Orioles on Sept. 21, was caught in the stands by Wyoming state legislator Steve Harshman.

[soldat44]

Go ahead and spend the money. Who cares? Only idiots complain about what people spend their money on. Get a life you bozos.

Posted by JackP32 at 10:45 AM : Oct 19, 2008

OMG - Did a bus pull up outside?

[soldat44]

One other thing that I will never understand is why people complain when things that are trivial and way expensive are bought with people with the money to buy them.

If people have the money and want to spend it that way, who cares?

It is their money and they can spend it as they wish. What are they supposed to do just hand it over to people because they have too much?

Someone buys the ball for $400,000.00 and then that money is spent else where and so forth. It gets into the economy one way or the other.

Stop being so *** jealous that people actually have that kind of money to spend on trivial items.

You know the sin of GREED that you all complain about is the same as the sin of ENVY.

Posted by stick1771 at 08:57 AM : Oct 19, 2008

No ENVY here Stick - Just simple DISGUST

[toolmangler-2009]

the "House that Ruth built" should have closed with a series championship not a whimper. That is why nothing is selling. We go to a new stadium with astronomical prices just to watch a game played by losers, I don''t think so. They will have to show me that the ''Real Yankees'' still exist first.

[jackp32]

Go ahead and spend the money. Who cares? Only idiots complain about what people spend their money on. Get a life you bozos.

[wayno561]

Nothing to do with the economy folks, just further proof that Hank has managed,in 1 one short year, to render the Yankees irrelavant, nobody cares!!
Go Red Sox!!! The real "America''s Team".

[wayno561]

Nothing to do with the economy folks, just further proof that Hank has managed,in 1 one short year, to render the Yankees irrelavant, nobody cares!!
Go Red Sox!!! The real "America''s Team".

[upto1947]

I am glad.
***********************************************8
Anyone who would waste their hard-earned dollars like this and then can''''t pay their mortgage the next year gets what they deserve.
Who is this nut. The people that have MONEY pay there bills. Remenber, it says HAVE MONEY, it does not say THINK THEY HAVE MONEY

[oneworldusa]

I am glad the auction went poorly. I turned my back on professional baseball (except for my local AAA team) after the last strike. All about money, not about sports or sportsmanship anymore.

Dunno what they''re doing with the new stadium but I am aware that an NFL team is selling ''licensing'' to seats, as if they are real estate, and then on top of that, you have to buy tickets to the football games. In other words, you have to purchase your seat from the stadium, then, as a seat owner you have the ''privilege'' of purchasing game tickets. Absolutely ridiculous. Anyone who would waste their hard-earned dollars like this and then can''t pay their mortgage the next year gets what they deserve.

[smurfcrusher]

when I was a kid the reason (read: EXCUSE) given for the high salaries read something like, "oh, well they can''t work as athletes for long, so of course they have to earn a lot while playing".

BS ! Unbridled greed. Greed is NOT good, as the expensive Wall Street lesson teaches us.

Us being typical taxpayers, not the looters.

REJECT professional sports until prices reach levels that Americans can afford. The more money you throw at these jerks, the more greedy they become.

[nothappyatall]

Yeah this is insane, $400,000 for a dam baseball!! any moron who would pay that has too dam much money and a mental problem.