Game-used Mets, Yanks items pace Steiner sale

Collectors who are looking for game-used items from the New York Yankees and Mets, along with the University of Notre Dame football team can focus their efforts on Steiner Sports' latest catalog auction.
The 500-lot auction, which is slated for March 13-27 on the company's website at www.steinersports.com, will showcase roughly 100 Yankees, 150 Mets, 150 from Steiner's Marketplace and another 50 items from Notre Dame. In addition, the auction also features 50 unique items from the Steiner Collection.

A 2006 Derek Jeter signed game-used road jersey headlines the key Yankees items in the auction, which also boasts a 2003 Roger Clemens game-used road jersey, 2006 Mariano Rivera game-used home jersey and a 2000 Andy Pettitte game-used World Series jersey.

"These are the guys that you can foresee now that are going to be the Yankees legends in 10-15 years, like Jeter, Joe Torre and Mariano Rivera," Steiner Sports director of e-commerce Kevin Lee said. "The game-used stuff has really taken off. The collectors and fans love to do some speculating on the up-and-coming guys. This year we're going to have the Yankees prospects like Philip Hughes. Collectors are out there now trying to get his stuff now. They are foreseeing that he's going to be great and I'll get it now at a great price."

Meanwhile, a 2006 David Wright game-used home jersey tops the Mets memorabilia in the auction. Other notable Mets items include a 2005 Jose Reyes signed game-used home jersey and a 2006 Pedro Marinez game-used jersey. Also offered are two Shea Stadium outfield wall signs that state "1969 Mets World Champions" and "2000 Mets National League Champions."

Two game-used helmets worn by Ryan Harris and Chris Frome during the 2005 BCS game kick off the Notre Dame portion of the auction. Other Fighting Irish items include a game-used football that was used during the game vs. Michigan State last season and player locker name tags (individual lots).

Also, a Thurman Munson autographed Syracuse Chiefs baseball leads off the Marketplace portion of the auction. Other headliners include a Cy Young autographed baseball, Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier signed 1971 Sports Illustrated magazine and a Tiger Woods signed golf bag, which was the model used by Woods during a recent Buick Open.

"It wasn't used by Woods, but it is an exact/replica model of the one he used," Lee said. "It is very cool and very impressive."

A Tiki Barber signed football featuring his final regular season game statistics headlines the Steiner Collection items in the auction.
 "He signed it and wrote 'final regular season game' and put the date, Dec. 30, 2006, the score, 34-24, 23 rushes, 234 yards and three touchdowns," Lee said. "He loaded that ball up on one panel with that description."

Other Steiner Collection items up for bids are a Jeter, Posada, Torre signed 2000 World Series/Subway Series program, which Jeter signed "00 WS MVP," and Jeter's game-used Nike Dry Fit dark blue undershirt.

"This is our first catalog auction of 2007," Lee said. "The last catalog auction that we did was in October of 2006 when we featured just Yankees and Mets items. Our auctions on our website run 24/7 and those type of items are always up there. This is the second time that we decided to put together a catalog and feature a few of the key items. We are looking to put together another auction catalog in May or June that will likely feature Marketplace and consignment items."