Most valuable sports ball

[vintagesportscollector]

Originally Posted by mcgwirecom

McGwire's 70th homerun ball sold for over $3 million with the juice.... I know its now worth about $25,000 but it did sell for that much. I believe that was the most ever paid.
.

Is that the biggest bust of all time? Has anyone ever overspent more or wasted more on a single item? I can't immediately think of anything that's been a bigger bust.

[MacDice]

Not that is could ever be proven at the actual ball but what about Ruth's called Home Run?

[sayheykid54]

How about the baseball from Reggie Jackson's legendary light tower shot at Tiger Stadium during the 1971 All-Star game. Probably not the most valuable. But would be a great baseball to own!

[packs]

I wonder what ever happened to the baseball from Willie Mays' "catch". I bet it was just entered back into play. Funny to think about how the next guy could have fouled it off and some kid caught it.

Ruth's 714 home run ball is at the HOF. But I would think if it wasn't, that's the most expensive baseball.

[Scott Garner]

Ruth's 1st HR ball

[CW]

How about Aaron's 715 HR ball? Clearly a $1M+ ball if it were ever discovered and brought to auction. Even Barry Bonds' 756 HR ball sold for $750K, so I think the sky would be the limit for Aaron's.

[Runscott]

I bet Ruth's last HR would go for more than Aaron's 715th. The number 714 is…iconic. Walter Johnson's last strikeout pitch would probably rate pretty high as well. Same for Ty Cobb's last hit.

[mcgwirecom]

Originally Posted by CW

How about Aaron's 715 HR ball? Clearly a $1M+ ball if it were ever discovered and brought to auction. Even Barry Bonds' 756 HR ball sold for $750K, so I think the sky would be the limit for Aaron's.

Aaron's 715 was given back to him after he hit it. Tom House caught it in the bullpen and returned it. I believe it is on display in Atlanta at the stadium.

I think I saw #714 when I was at the Hall of Fame in the late '90's I assume its still there.

Number 755 was also at the 1999 Guernseys Auction. The guy who caught it worked for the Brewers. They were under orders to return all Hanks homerun balls. The guy wanted to give it back to him personally but Hank had already left after the game and the team went on a road trip. The guy was fired for not giving it back so he just kept it. It was only late July so he never thought it would be the final homerun. He had it many years before going to an autograph show and having Hank sign it. I don't think he told him it was his last homerun ball, though. I think the owner had a $750,000 reserve on it. The bidding fell short but they hammered out a deal for $650,000.

PS I was at the auction also. Richard invited me up. was a real hoot watching people bid into the millions. I was sitting next to a dealer I knew who was still bidding over 1 million.

[71buc]

Originally Posted by vintagesportscollector

Is that the biggest bust of all time? Has anyone ever overspent more or wasted more on a single item? I can't immediately think of anything that's been a bigger bust.

I am friends with McFarlane's brother in law. I asked him how they felt about this perception. It was explained to me that although he is a huge fan he is a businessman as well. The purchase of the ball resulted in valuable publicity for his company. After the purchase he appeared on many network TV shows which generated free advertising for his business. I am certain that the time he spent on TV being interviewed about the ball was far more valuable to his company than the money spent on the ball. I can only imagine what that amount of network advertising would cost. Ironically people are still talking about the purchase of the ball because it has been devalued by the PED stigma attached to it which of course is continued free publicity. The investment in the ball paid for itself in free advertising and continues to do so.

[vintagesportscollector]

Very interesting. I clearly never thought of it that way. I imagine then that Todd has no regrets, as the purchase was part of a collection that has great notoriety and was the springboard for his toys company and other big business deals. I think Todd also has Sosa's 66 and Bond's 73...among others.

[MVSNYC]

Great points, Mike. Not too many people knew who McFarlane (or his company) was prior to him buying the ball.

PS- I was sitting in the front row at that live auction, back then it was exhilarating, and that ball and auction was all the buzz.

[RichardSimon]

Originally Posted by MVSNYC

Great points, Mike. Not too many people knew who McFarlane (or his company) was prior to him buying the ball.

PS- I was sitting in the front row at that live auction, back then it was exhilarating, and that ball and auction was all the buzz.

I was working for Guernseys at that auction. I worked with consignors and cataloged all the items. I spent some time with the owner of the ball.
There was a lot of speculation about how high the ball would go.
I knew the lines of credit that a few people had and I knew it would go for over $1 million.
On auction night I was in charge of the phone bank.
We had a couple of friends of employees who came in for the night to help and I was handing out assignments. A young lady was sitting next to my seat and I gave her the assignment for only one bidder as she appeared to be quite nervous.
I sat next to her, handling six bidders. Guess who wound up talking to Todd .
She handled it like a pro.
Todd was bidding against some individuals from a tie making company as the bidding went past $1 million. The tie company sold individually designed ties (designed by athletes) and wanted to put a coupon in one of their tie boxes. The coupon was good for the baseball. But they were hemming and hawing over every bid. Todd just banged out his bids through the young woman on the phone. I knew he would not stop and that he would get the ball.
It was quite a night.