ILS1
06-10-2005, 08:28 PM
The five-page typed 1919 contract that shipped Babe Ruth from the Boston Red Sox to the New York Yankees sold Friday for a staggering $996,000, Sotheby's auction house said. The paperwork recorded the unprecedented deal blamed for dooming generations of Red Sox fans to heartbreak as victims of "The Curse of the Bambino."
The buyer was not immediately identified. The crowd at Sotheby's burst into cheers when the final hammer came down after a round of intense bidding.
The price was nearly double the presale estimate for the Dec. 26, 1919, contract, signed by owners Harry Frazee of the Red Sox and Jacob Ruppert of Yankees. The paper recorded the $100,000 sale of Ruth to the Yankees, a transaction that altered baseball history.
The Red Sox had won the World Series one year before peddling Ruth. They wouldn't win again until last year, when "The Curse" was finally broken with their World Series victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.
In between, the Yankees won 26 championships.
The contract fell short of the priciest bit of Babe memorabilia, a massive 46-ounce Louisville Slugger used by the Bambino to drill the first home run in Yankee Stadium history. It sold in December 2004 for the Ruthian price of $1.26 million, the most paid for a baseball bat.
Another prime bit of Boston baseball memorabilia sold Friday for $132,000 -- the first ball thrown at the April 20, 1912, debut of Fenway Park. Umpire Tom Connolly held onto the future collectible, inscribing it with the message, "Fenway Park, First Ball Pitched."
The baseball sold for more than double its presale estimate of $50,000. The identity of the winning bidder was not released.
A London-based online gambling operation paid $102,000 for the 700th home run hit by the player closest to Ruth on the career home run list, Barry Bonds. Only Bonds, Ruth and all-time leader Henry Aaron have eclipsed the 700-homer mark.
Bonds, who has yet to play this season because of an injured right knee, has 703 home runs. Sportsbook.com said it intends to donate the ball to the baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.
A baseball signed by Ruth and Yankees teammate Lou Gehrig sold for $42,000, well above the pre-sale estimate of $5,000.
One of the other big baseball sellers: a 1911 Honus Wagner baseball card, one of only about 50 still in existence, sold for $132,000. While above the presale estimate, the purchase still paled next to the $1.265 million paid for a 1909 Wagner card in July 2000.
The auction prices include the house premium of 20 percent on the first $200,000 and 12 percent thereafter.
AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service
Copyright 2004-2005, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved
Babe Ruth Contract (http://cbs.sportsline.com/mlb/story/8551857)
The buyer was not immediately identified. The crowd at Sotheby's burst into cheers when the final hammer came down after a round of intense bidding.
The price was nearly double the presale estimate for the Dec. 26, 1919, contract, signed by owners Harry Frazee of the Red Sox and Jacob Ruppert of Yankees. The paper recorded the $100,000 sale of Ruth to the Yankees, a transaction that altered baseball history.
The Red Sox had won the World Series one year before peddling Ruth. They wouldn't win again until last year, when "The Curse" was finally broken with their World Series victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.
In between, the Yankees won 26 championships.
The contract fell short of the priciest bit of Babe memorabilia, a massive 46-ounce Louisville Slugger used by the Bambino to drill the first home run in Yankee Stadium history. It sold in December 2004 for the Ruthian price of $1.26 million, the most paid for a baseball bat.
Another prime bit of Boston baseball memorabilia sold Friday for $132,000 -- the first ball thrown at the April 20, 1912, debut of Fenway Park. Umpire Tom Connolly held onto the future collectible, inscribing it with the message, "Fenway Park, First Ball Pitched."
The baseball sold for more than double its presale estimate of $50,000. The identity of the winning bidder was not released.
A London-based online gambling operation paid $102,000 for the 700th home run hit by the player closest to Ruth on the career home run list, Barry Bonds. Only Bonds, Ruth and all-time leader Henry Aaron have eclipsed the 700-homer mark.
Bonds, who has yet to play this season because of an injured right knee, has 703 home runs. Sportsbook.com said it intends to donate the ball to the baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.
A baseball signed by Ruth and Yankees teammate Lou Gehrig sold for $42,000, well above the pre-sale estimate of $5,000.
One of the other big baseball sellers: a 1911 Honus Wagner baseball card, one of only about 50 still in existence, sold for $132,000. While above the presale estimate, the purchase still paled next to the $1.265 million paid for a 1909 Wagner card in July 2000.
The auction prices include the house premium of 20 percent on the first $200,000 and 12 percent thereafter.
AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service
Copyright 2004-2005, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved
Babe Ruth Contract (http://cbs.sportsline.com/mlb/story/8551857)