Dark_Angel
07-23-2004, 06:12 PM
This is cool. :cool:
Ruth's First Yankee Stadium Homer Bat in Auction
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The bat Babe Ruth used to belt the first home run ever hit in Yankee Stadium will be up for auction in December with a chance to join the exclusive million-dollar club for sports memorabilia.
The bat signed by Ruth after his homer helped sink his former team, the Boston Red Sox, at opening day of Yankee Stadium on April 18, 1923, is the highlight of a sale devoted to the history of baseball in New York at Sotheby's on Dec. 2.
Yankee Stadium, arguably the most famous U.S. stadium, was nicknamed "The House that Ruth Built," based on the enormous success the team achieved after he joined the club and the popularity of Ruth, the greatest slugger baseball had known.
The big-barreled Louisville Slugger bat, weighing a hefty 45 ounces (1.28 kg), is expected to fetch more than $1 million, according to Sotheby's, which would make it the only sports object besides Mark McGwire's 70th home run ball to break the million mark.
McGwire's ball sold for $3 million. The highest price ever paid for a bat was nearly $600,000 -- for Shoeless Joe Jackson's Black Betsy bat.
Ruth donated his historic bat to newspaper Los Angeles Evening Herald as the prize for its high school home run hitting contest.
The ash bat was awarded to Victor Orsatti on June 7, 1923. Upon his death in 1984, Orsatti willed the bat to his caretaker, who kept the pristine, dark brown bat under her bed ever since.
Other items in the auction include the 1955 World Series ring that belonged to Brooklyn Dodgers shortstop Pee Wee Reese and Mickey Mantle's first major league home run baseball.
The Ruth bat, along with other highlights of the sale, was being exhibited from Thursday to Sunday at The National Sports Collectors Convention in Cleveland.
http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/nm/20040723/mdf636592.jpg
Ruth's First Yankee Stadium Homer Bat in Auction
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The bat Babe Ruth used to belt the first home run ever hit in Yankee Stadium will be up for auction in December with a chance to join the exclusive million-dollar club for sports memorabilia.
The bat signed by Ruth after his homer helped sink his former team, the Boston Red Sox, at opening day of Yankee Stadium on April 18, 1923, is the highlight of a sale devoted to the history of baseball in New York at Sotheby's on Dec. 2.
Yankee Stadium, arguably the most famous U.S. stadium, was nicknamed "The House that Ruth Built," based on the enormous success the team achieved after he joined the club and the popularity of Ruth, the greatest slugger baseball had known.
The big-barreled Louisville Slugger bat, weighing a hefty 45 ounces (1.28 kg), is expected to fetch more than $1 million, according to Sotheby's, which would make it the only sports object besides Mark McGwire's 70th home run ball to break the million mark.
McGwire's ball sold for $3 million. The highest price ever paid for a bat was nearly $600,000 -- for Shoeless Joe Jackson's Black Betsy bat.
Ruth donated his historic bat to newspaper Los Angeles Evening Herald as the prize for its high school home run hitting contest.
The ash bat was awarded to Victor Orsatti on June 7, 1923. Upon his death in 1984, Orsatti willed the bat to his caretaker, who kept the pristine, dark brown bat under her bed ever since.
Other items in the auction include the 1955 World Series ring that belonged to Brooklyn Dodgers shortstop Pee Wee Reese and Mickey Mantle's first major league home run baseball.
The Ruth bat, along with other highlights of the sale, was being exhibited from Thursday to Sunday at The National Sports Collectors Convention in Cleveland.
http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/nm/20040723/mdf636592.jpg