756 Sells for $752K

by wedge on Sep 16, 2007 10:09 AM PDT Comment 4 comments

Barry Bonds' record-setting home run ball has auctioned off for $752,467.

The online bidding had a quirky rule I wasn't aware of. Sotheby's continues the bidding well after the "deadline," until 30 minutes go by without another bid. At deadline, the price was just $300K, but the real heavy hitters apparently waited and chimed in later, exploiting the 30-minute rule.

It makes you think about the memorabilia business in general. Maybe not home run balls, necessarily, but the littler stuff -- autographs, baseball cards. What's supposed to be a kids' pastime has been infected with big money, as we all know. Maybe I'm just old and nostalgic, but I think that's a shame. Once something becomes all about the money, it's changed forever.

Of course, we all knew that, and it's hardly anything new. Just seems worthwhile to reflect on how the game used to be fun in a different, more innocent way.

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Re: 756 Sells for $752K

I don't think the game has ever been just for kids and it sure as hell has never been innocent. Baseball players have been hawking commercial products since the radio days, a team threw the world series for money, segregation kept non-white players out of the game and so on.

I've never quite understood this longing for "the way things used to be." More often than not it's just a made up feeling in our minds of some forgotten innocence. The game has never been pure and it never will be.

On a related note - good for the fan who managed to cash in on this. If Bonds can make tons of money on the backs of fans then at least somebody deserves to get a little of that back.

by Sandor Clegane on Sep 16, 2007 11:28 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Re: 756 Sells for $752K

I'm not talking about the game. I'm talking about collectibles.

by wedge on Sep 16, 2007 1:00 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Collectibles

Well there's good and bad. Bad that the great things go to the highest bidder. Good that a whole lot more cool stuff gets produced.

Troll eBay and you can come up with hundreds of great autographed items with authentication for under $20.

by achiappanza on Sep 17, 2007 9:32 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Re: 756 Sells for $752K

I stay away from collectibles because I don't want The Juice to kill my family over it. That's been my philosophy for 20 years, and it'll be my philosophy until the day I die, at which point I'll try to think of a new one.

Dave Righetti: You don't know him. / Read My Blog, Because I Write It

by howtheyscored on Sep 17, 2007 2:17 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs