Babe Ruth HR ball sold for $264K

[greenmonster66]

The ball Babe Ruth hit for his 702nd career home run fetched $264,500 during an auction Saturday at the Louisville Slugger Museum.

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Ruth hit the home run in 1934 and later signed the ball. It had been passed down by three generations of a Minnesota family before going to the auction block.

The anonymous winning bid was more than three times the estimated sale price by Hunt Auctions.

A Cy Young autographed bat from the 1903 World Series sold for $138,000, while a Marilyn Monroe autographed photo signed to former husband Joe DiMaggio sold for $63,250. The picture was from the Yankee star's personal estate and considered to be among his most coveted possessions.

[ullmandds]

Wowsers!

[vintagecpa]

I realize it is a neat item, but what makes the ball THAT valuable? Is it the only HR ball he ever personally signed?

[FUBAR]

I hope it wasn't from the Burdick collection

[David Atkatz]

Originally Posted by vintagecpa

I realize it is a neat item, but what makes the ball THAT valuable? Is it the only HR ball he ever personally signed?

What made it that valuable is the fact that two (or more) people with deep pockets wanted it.

[E93]

I would imagine there are not a whole lot of Babe Ruth home run balls out there, but I don't follow memorabilia much.
JimB

[brass_rat]

I believe the proceeds go to Gibson's foundation, but really?! $575k?

http://www.scpauctions.com/LotDetail...eo=KIRK-GIBSON

[vintagecpa]

I realize this isn't an item your gonna snipe for $1,000 on Ebay, and I also realize there are plenty of baseball collectors with tons of money to burn. Autographed baseballs of the Babe are far from rare and #702 just doesn't seem like a milestone that would command this price. Obviously 2 people felt it was worthy of the price. I just personally don't understand it. Probably the reason I don't buy autographs.

[CW]

Along the same vein, and maybe even more suprising, Kirk Gibson's
home run bat from the historic '88 Series brought $575K in SCP's
recent auction. This was a charity auction, however, which may
explain the higher price(?). It's nice to see Gibby's Dodgers items
become a part of the Dreier's amazing collection.

http://www.freep.com/article/2010111...-goes-for-575K

oh, I see this has been posted....