A signed and certified Eddie Plank baseball was the most expensive item in the September Coach’s Corner Sports & Celebrity Auction, generating an eye-opening $14,352 winning bid. The second-highest item was a Christy Mathewson ball that changed hands for $5,058. There were 3,582 items in the auction. The Plank ball was an “All Purpose Practice Ball” with red laces and signed on the side by the Hall of Famer.
The Mathewson ball was a non-official Spalding ball that has red and green laces and was signed by the legendary Giants hurler in bold black ink.
The third-highest price was for a Babe Ruth-Lou Gehrig ball that brought $2,835. It was a red-laced souvenir ball with “1927 Yankees” stamped on the reverse sweet spot and Ruth’s autograph on the sweet spot. Gehrig, as usual, signed a side panel. A Ruth-Gehrig cut signature from the 1920s brought $1,282 and a Babe Ruth autographed three-finger glove sold for $334.
A 1962 Topps Mickey Mantle card graded at a 10 sold for a very impressive $2,681, while a 1986 Fleer Michael Jordan rookie, graded Pristine 10, brought $704.
A Beatles vintage “Abbey Road” LP cover signed by John, Paul, George and Ringo sold for $2,062. Two other Beatles items that changed hands were a “Something New” signed album that brought $1,774 and a 1960s back-signed postcard that sold for $499.
A 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers World’s Championship signed NL team ball brought a substantial winning bid of $2,411, while a 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers signed ball sold for $814 and one from the heartbreak year of 1951 sold for $539.
There were many attractive and important signed baseballs in this auction, including a Larry Lajoie signed NBC ball that sold for $2,183, a Mel Ott signed MacGregor ball that brought $1,945, a Grover Cleveland Alexander ball that generated a winning bid of $1,738, a Honus Wagner signed “Energized League Ball” that sold for $1,537, a Robert Clemente signature on an “Official League” ball by Rawlings ball that went for $1,501, and a second Clemente signature on a Chub Feeney Official NL ball that went for $1,155.
Also, an Ernie Lombardi signed Little League ball ($1,531), a Mickey Mantle signed Official League ball ($1,155), a Jesse Haines signed Wilson ball ($969), an Earle Combs signed AL ball ($898), a Jackie Robinson signed Little League ball ($840), a Thurman Munson Official League ball ($840), a Satchel Paige signed Wilson ball ($669), a Fred Lindstrom signed NL ball ($473), a lot of two Mantle-signed AL balls ($648), a lot of (2) Joe DiMaggio signed AL balls ($358), a Hank Greenberg signed 1979 All-Star ball ($375), a Travis Jackson signed NL ball ($352), and a Ted Lyons signed Spalding ball ($223). Other signed balls included a 1960s Baseball Hall of Fame ball with 28 signatures ($402), a Mark McGwire signed Olympic baseball ($101), and a 500 Home Run Club signed ball, including Eddie Murray ($402).
Other noteworthy Hall of Fame signed items included a handwritten and signed letter from Ty Cobb ($1,811), a Cobb signed Terry Moore Model Ken-Wel glove ($164) and a Cooperstown 1939 cachet ($811). Mickey Mantle items included a signed Mitchell & Ness jersey ($875), a signed Yankees cap ($270) and a signed full-sized Pro Model Rawlings bat ($525). In addition there was a signed Mantle-Maris signed 1961 photo ($183) and a signed Thurman Munson Yankees photo ($425), a Cap Anson signed 1906 official document ($421), a full Connie Mack Stadium seat ($175), a signed Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter jersey ($171), a 2004 Red Sox signed bat ($425) and an Ed Delahanty signed cut ($788).
Also a signed Jimmie Foxx and Ty Cobb JC Higgins button black glove ($1,278), a Joe DiMaggio signed Louisville Slugger C244 Pro Stock bat ($550), a NASCAR Legends signed official racing helmet ($500), a multi-signature 1961 Yankees team photo ($750), and a Jordan-signed Bulls jersey ($307), a 16-by-20 “Dream Team” picture signed by Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan ($273), and an MVP.com signed photo of the principles of that short-lived enterprise: John Elway, Wayne Gretzky and Michael Jordan ($120).
Other key sports-related items include a Walter Payton signed Bears lithograph ($480), a Barry Sanders signed Oklahoma State jersey ($325), a Lance Armstrong signed bicycle jersey ($607) and cap ($350), and a Muhammad Ali “Butterfly Stats” glove ($406).
A Gerald Ford signed Pro Model bat sold for $873, a Neil Armstrong signed NASA photo sold for $220, a cut signature of President Andrew Johnson went for $310, a photo bearing the signatures of five US Presidents: Bush Sr., Carter, Ford, Reagan and Nixon brought $998, two original “Titanic Sinks” newspapers from April 16, 17, 1912 sold for $318 and a Geronimo custom wall-hanging including strands of his hair brought $316. A Marilyn Monroe signed black-and-white 8-by-10 photo sold for $709 and a General George A. Custer signed patent document brought $1,024.
Also, a signed Rolling Stone guitar ($875), a Bruce Springsteen signed guitar ($499), a Garth Brooks signed guitar ($375), a Doors “Waiting for the Sun” LP ($565), a James Dean autographed magazine page ($360), a Bob Marley signed record jacket ($402), a Greta Garbo signed book picture ($501), a Grateful Dead signed album ($350), a Picasso signed litho ($800) and a Three Stooges signed movie photo ($384).