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ramramAs most of you did, I received the following two emails over the last two days. The first from MastoNet and the second, and not to be outdone, from Sportscards Plus/Sotheby's. So just who's big day was it? You gotta love the battle going on here!!
"MastroNet Purchases Historic Babe Ruth Home Run Bat For a Record $1.265 Million!
Research uncovers letter from Babe Ruth which solidifies authenticity
Chicago-based MastroNet, Inc. a leading high value Sports Collectibles auction house purchased the bat that Babe Ruth used in 1923 to hit his first home run in the newly built Yankee Stadium for a record $1.265 million. This price makes the item the most valuable baseball bat in the world and among the priciest pieces of sports memorabilia in existence. Just one week ago MastroNet brokered a deal resulting in the highest price paid for a complete baseball card set - $800,000. The record-breaking bat was purchased on behalf of an East Coast collector who wishes to remain anonymous. The bat will be featured in the most comprehensive and valuable New York Yankees and Babe Ruth collection known.
The East Coast collector tapped the expertise of Doug Allen, president and COO of MastroNet, to assist him in the valuation and bidding aspects involved with acquiring the Babe Ruth bat. Top priority went to reinforcing the bat’s authenticity as THE bat used by Ruth for the historic first Yankee Stadium home run. “No evidence was included with the provenance that supported the notion that the bat would be awarded as a prize BEFORE the home run was hit,” said Allen. “The possibility existed that his agent Christy Walsh, a master at promotion, thought up the sweepstakes that awarded the bat to a contest winner after the historic home run had been hit. If that were the case, it was conceivable that Ruth could have pulled any of his bats for the contest winner and not necessarily the one used on April 18, 1923.”
Scouring through newspaper archives, MastroNet researchers found evidence that the event was indeed planned in advance of Ruth’s first home blast in the House that Ruth Built. On March 5, 1923 the Evening Herald of Los Angeles published a letter from Babe Ruth where in his own words Ruth stated “I would like to contribute to the enthusiasm of your Los Angeles high school baseball league and offer the bat with which I knock my first homerun this year at the big, new Yankee Stadium.”
“It was like finding the missing piece of the puzzle. Once we knew that Ruth had pre-planned the event, we were able to give the green light”, offered Allen. “The timeline was now set. The event was planned and promoted in early March. The home run was hit on April 18th. Babe Ruth inscribed the bat and turned it over to a messenger on May7th, the Yankees off day. One week later and 3,000 miles west the bat was delivered to the Evening Herald.”
Allen confirms that there never was any doubt the bat was used by Ruth; the issue was whether it was the one used for the first home run in Yankee Stadium.
Allen acknowledges that even as a seasoned professional, the record-breaking Ruth bat is awe-inspiring. “I’m around significant items every day so I tend to get a little excitement-proofed,” said Allen. “But every now and then there’s an item that makes me forget it’s a business and brings me back to being a collector and a fan. This is one of them and worth every penny.”...
About MastroNet, Inc.
MastroNet, Inc. of Willowbrook, Ill., is the leading high value collectibles auction company. The company has sold many of the most famous and valuable sports and Americana collectibles ever offered to the public, including the most expensive baseball card in history, the T206 Honus Wagner which sold for nearly $1.3 million, Norman Rockwell’s “The Dugout” for $355,000, Roger Maris’ 1961 jersey he wore when he hit home run #61 for $302,000, the bus Rosa Parks rode on when she refused to stand for segregation for nearly $500,000 and the famous Steve Bartman Cubs foul ball for over $100,000."
VS.
"SPORTSCARDS PLUS AND SOTHEBY’S
SELL HISTORIC BABE RUTH BAT FOR A RECORD $1,265,000
BAT USED TO KNOCK OUT THE FIRST HOME RUN IN YANKEE STADIUM WAS
PURCHASED BY AN ANONYMOUS EAST COAST COLLECTOR
New York, New York, December 2, 2004 – This afternoon, in an overflowing salesroom, Sportscards Plus and Sotheby’s sold Babe Ruth’s signed bat used to slam the first home run in Yankee Stadium for $1,265,000, a record for a baseball bat at auction. Applause erupted in the room when the hammer finally fell, and “The Holy Grail” of sports memorabilia was purchased by a prominent East Coast collector. The bat now stands as one of only three pieces of sports memorabilia to eclipse the $1 million mark. It was included in a sale of 311 lots of Important Baseball Memorabilia which brought a total of $4,687,486. Remarkably, the average price per lot in this unprecedented event was $15,072. “We are thrilled with the overall results of this auction, and are pleased that the Ruth bat, along with its accompanying documentation will now be the centerpiece in the most comprehensive private collection of Babe Ruth memorabilia known” said SportsCards Plus Auction Director Dan Imler. “Since the bat was first made public and authenticated by all of the industry’s leading experts in 2002, this individual has repeatedly expressed his intense desire to acquire this treasure.” Imler said. Other record setting highlights of the day included Mickey Mantle’s First Major League Home Run Ball, which sold for $189,750, Sandy Koufax’s 1963 No-Hitter Game Worn Spalding Frank Bolling Model 42-212 Glove, which brought $126,500, Home Plate from Yankee Stadium circa 1923-1973, which sold for $115,000, a Giant 1920 Babe Ruth Signed Display Photograph, which sold for $149,500, Babe Ruth’s New York Yankees Flannel Road Pants, circa 1933, which soared past a pre-sale estimate of $15/25,000 to sell for $109,250, and Lou Gehrig's 1936 New York Yankees Signed Contract (MVP Season), which sold for $115,000 against a high estimate of $65,000.
Lee Dunbar, Director of Sotheby’s Collectibles Department and David Kohler, President of SportsCards Plus, said, “The sale was a home run. This bat has the distinction of being the second most valuable piece of sport memorabilia ever sold, tying the price achieved for Honus Wagner T206 Baseball Card PSA 8. The success of the sale reinforces the fact that baseball is still America’s national pastime.”
Babe Ruth’s Bat Used To Hit the First Home Run at Yankee Stadium – April 18, 1923
The Babe’s spectacular home run in Yankee Stadium’s first game is often recalled as one of the most dramatic moments in sports history. After his home run, Ruth, always supportive of kids and young ball players, donated the bat to The Los Angeles Evening Herald newspaper to be awarded as the top prize in a high school home run hitting contest. On the bat, the Babe inscribed, “To the Boy Home Run King of Los Angeles ‘Babe’ Ruth, N.Y. May 7, 1923.” The bat was awarded to Victor Orsatti by the Herald on June 7, 1923. Upon his death in 1984, Mr. Orsatti willed the bat, along with all of his personal effects, to his caretaker. She kept it in her possession, under her bed, until now. In honor of Victor Orsatti, and in the spirit of Babe Ruth’s inclination towards helping children, she intends to use a portion of her proceeds from the sale of this bat to fund a baseball program at an orphanage in Mexico, where she now spends a great deal of her time. Together with the bat is a telegram from Ruth congratulating Orsatti on his win as well as an album of newspaper cuttings and other mementoes relating to the contest. Since the bat made it’s first public debut at the Chicago National Sports Collector’s Convention in 2002, it has been unanimously heralded as the greatest discovery in the field of Sports Memorabilia by leading industry experts. Joe Orlando, President of PSA (Professional Sports Authenticator), whose firm was among the first to examine the piece, stated, “This Babe Ruth bat, in my opinion, is the most historically significant item we have authenticated to date and I cannot imagine the existence of another item on par with this one. The provenance, quality, and the story behind this bat make it one of the hobby’s most captivating treasures.” "
12-08-2004, 02:58 PM
Mastro vs. Sportscards Plus/Sotheby's --- The Battle Continues
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