The first Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony was held in 1939, with 11 living legends attending the inaugural event, including Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Cy Young and Honus Wagner.
Those 11 attendees signed a single baseball, and that historic piece of memorabilia is currently up for bid at SCP Auctions.
In attendance that day in Cooperstown, New York, was Eddie Rommel, a pioneer of the modern knuckleball. Rommel had all 11 sign the ball that day, an act of foresight that would prove historic, as other balls signed by the 11 inductees are exceedingly scarce. The 12th inductee, Lou Gehrig, is missing.
SCP sold another ball signed by the “Original 11,” arguably in superior condition, for $623,369 in 2018, the highest price ever paid for a signed baseball.
The ball currently at auction, which has a bid of $110,000 with three days remaining, previously sold at Lelands for $236,389.20.
SCP Auctions COO Mike Keys pointed to specific “panels” (sides) of the ball which feature desirable orientations of autographs, with one panel featuring Cobb’s signature alone and another including the signatures of Ruth, Wagner, Walter Johnson’s and Larry "Nap" Lajoie.
“I would liken that ball to, a Ruth jersey,” Keys told cllct. “These don't come up for auction every six months. They have come up maybe once a decade or twice a decade.”
Keys believes the ball is worth $300,000 or more, though the auction house does not publish public estimates.
Another historic piece in SCP’s auction is a 1913 Jack Johnson vs. Jim Johnson boxing poster from their bout in Paris, famous as the first time two black boxers faced off for a world championship. No other examples of this posters are readily found in public sales records.
"These posters are super rare. I've never seen another one,” said Keys, who expects the “museum-worthy” piece to fetch at least $30,000.
In a fascinating demonstration of current market dynamics — particularly the rising importance and prevalence of photo-matching — SCP also will sell Christian Laettner's signed and inscribed 1992 USA Olympic “Dream Team” game-worn uniform.
In addition to the historic significance of anything related to the Dream Team, particularly during the current Olympic Games, this jersey has added intrigue as it was purchased from SCP less than a year ago from the personal collection of Laettner himself. At the time, the uniform lacked a photo-match and sold for $20,035.20.
Now, less than nine months later, the uniform returns to the auction block at SCP, this time accompanied by a photo-match provided by Sports Investors Authentication.
The addition of this documentation is expected to drive up the price, according to Keys.
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct.