Going Once, Going Twice . . .

While I've never been much of a collector of sports memorabilia, I've always admired impressive collections of signed game-worn jerseys, game-used equipment and trading cards.  As a kid I had a pretty extensive baseball card collection - impressive in terms of volume but, outside of a few choice pieces, not very valuable - and there are still a handful of signed baseballs lying around my childhood bedroom.  I never really understood paying big money to own the types of pieces that you might find in Cooperstown, Springfield or Canton, though - to me, those are meant for museums, better to be seen by the masses than to be possessed by a few.  When I got an offer to go to a preview for an upcoming Heritage Auctions sports memorabilia show, I jumped at the chance to see some awesome pieces of sports history before they are sold and kept away from public view.

The preview show, held at a mansion on Fifth Avenue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, had a number of great items up for bid - "Miracle on Ice" captain Mike Eruzione's game-worn jersey from Team USA's victory over the USSR, Curt Shilling's bloody sock from the 2004 World Series and a Lou Gehrig game-worn Yankees jersey - displayed beautifully in glass cases with museum lighting.  Mike Eruzione himself was in attendance chatting with prospective bidders, as was Hall of Fame pitcher Walter Johnson's grandson (who was pushing a book that he recently wrote about his famous grandfather, apparently).  It was awesome to see so many sports artifacts in such an intimate setting, free of the crowds and noise that you might fight at the Baseball Hall of Fame.

   Got ~$1 million?  If so, you can own Mike Eruzione's game-worn "Miracle on Ice" jersey.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the event attendees were seemingly more about the investment opportunity than about sports history.  While the people inspecting the items were undoubtedly aware of, and interested in, their historical significance, most of the conversation seemed to revolve around resale values and condition ratings.  While I was mentally ranking the items in my mind based on my own personal definition of "coolness," the estimated going rates for each items seemed to reflect a different set of priorities.  I thought this game-worn Lew Alcindor Milwaukee Bucks jersey was really awesome, but it wasn't even among the top half in terms of most expensive items at the auction.  At the same time, this "LeRoy Neiman Original Watercolor Inscribed to the Artist by Muhammad Ali" was somehow going for almost as much as Alcindor's jersey, though I'd much rather have the former hanging in my home.

The Heritage Auctions event taught me that I'd never be a great sports memorabilia investor - I care way too much about the historical significance of the items than I do about their resale value.  If you don't care about investing, I think you can pick up some really awesome items at these events for relatively cheap - sometimes the items that weren't deemed ultra-valuable by the professionals seemed among the coolest pieces up for bid.  For now, though, I'll leave the buying to the pros and take advantage of opportunities to view these amazing artifacts while I still can.