Sunday, May 04, 2008

Mastro May Auction

Mastro recently concluded their most recent major auction. They sold nearly $8.5Mil in memorabilia. There was plenty to see from rare cards to historical memorabilia.

Below is one of my favorite prewar Baseball cards. Babe Ruth who is the "Sultan of Swat" is also the "prince of peace" as he holds a dove in front of the Yankee Stadium crowd. The unusual pose and that guy to Ruth's right make me crack up. What the heck is going on here? This card sold for $3,500.00.

Here is a 1953 press photo of the Dodgers most feared hitters. It includes Carl Furillo, Duke Snider, Gil Hodges, Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella. $400.00 was the final bid.

This is a 1939 Press photo of an aging Joe Jackson as a liquor store proprietor on the 20th anniversary of the Black Sox scandal. As noted on the back by a reporter,
"Shoeless Joe Jackson ... 20 Years After"... whose legacy became "... one of the blackest blots on baseball history," and that "Jackson, with others, was convicted of accepting the bribes of gamblers to throw the game."
This pic sold for $600.00.

What an important piece of American history. Below is a American Continental Congress lottery ticket sold in 1776 to help finance the revolution.
The lottery was calculated to yield substantial prizes for winners, and to provide a profit for the young nation's Treasury. Regrettably, the government actually wound up losing money on the proposition... The lottery was a well-intentioned building block conceived by the Continental Congress, but it unfortunately did not produce the reservoir of cash the body had hoped to generate.

Weekly Blog Kiosk 5/4/2008

Congratulations to Big Brown and my condolences for Eight Belles.
  • Pittsburgh Pirate pitcher Tom Gorzelanny gives fans the finger.
  • 49 year old Julio Franco decides to finally hang them up.
  • Calm down it's just a game besides parents need to understand that video games are not only for kids. Parents should stop being lazy and do their jobs. Don't buy it for your kids.
  • Check out these photoshopped Rock n' Roll Baseball cards. Below is Mick Jagger superimposed on Ty Cobb's T206 red background portrait card. Hat Tip: Baseball Card Blog:
  • Bronx Banter has an impressive list of "must-read" Baseball books.
  • Former Tigers pitcher and Cy Young winner Denny McLain owes over $60,000.00 to creditors so he had his sports memorabilia and other household items hauled off by the court to be auctioned off this past Thursday, April 29th. Then, it gets canceled because his ex-wife is claiming ownership to his house and everything in it.
  • Let's jump on a bus and go on a road trip. The greatest touring band to ever grace the stage has donated their historical archives and memorabilia to UC Santa Cruz. I have some very vivid memories of my days as a wandering deadhead. The crowds were always plentiful, the music always ripe and the passion always peaking. I don't know if I'll every experience anything like those years again. Unlike many hardcore Grateful Dead fans I had not seen over 100 shows, but I have traveled as far as Wisconsin to see them. That's a story that maybe I'll share one of these days. I made some good friends along the way and would never trade those moments for anything- even to get rid of the bad times. I know that once this museum is up and running I'm gonna take one last trip to say hello. One thing though, apparently Bobby ain't handing over his shorts. Smile. Smile. Smile.
  • Imagine playing a 22 person foosball game.