Just for You Velcro...Gonna make a bid??

[BULLO12]

Contract sending Ruth from Red Sox to Yankees is for sale

ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK, June 1  This is all that remains of ''The Curse:'' five neatly typed pages, two bold signatures, and the scars from 86 years of torment.  

      The torment was free. But the original 1919 contract delivering Babe Ruth from Boston to the Bronx, forever altering baseball history and the pysches of countless Red Sox fans, is expected to draw bids of more than $500,000 when it goes on the auction block June 10.

      Signed by Red Sox owner Harry Frazee and his Yankees counterpart, Jacob Ruppert, the Dec. 26, 1919, document was typed out on legal paper to record the $100,000 deal that spawned ''The Curse of the Bambino.''

      The Sox had won the World Series one year before the sale. Once Ruth was peddled to the pinstripers, Boston wouldn't win another world championship until last year  suffering some of the most painful defeats in sports history along the way.

      In between, the Yankees won 26 world championships.

      The contract, currently owned by a Rhode Island philanthropist, is the featured item in an auction heavy on Red Sox memorabilia  including the first baseball thrown at the 1912 opening of Fenway Park.

      In all, the auction features more than 350 lots with an anticipated take of more than $5 million. At least the auction won't be held in the Bronx; the sale this coming Friday is set for Sotheby's in midtown Manhattan.

      Despite its age, the Ruth contract remains in excellent condition, according to Sotheby's. There is some discoloration from aging, along with a rust mark where the five-page document was held together by a paper clip.

      Philanthropist Alan Shawn Feinstein said the money generated by the sale of the contract will go to the hunger relief organization America's Second Harvest, which provides food for 23 million low-income Americans each year.

      The priciest Babe memorabilia ever was the massive 46-ounce Louisville Slugger used to drill the first home run in Yankee Stadium history; it brought a Ruthian price of $1.26 million, the most paid for a baseball bat.

      It was only the third piece of sports memorabilia auctioned off for more than $1 million, joining Mark McGwire's 70th home run ball ($3 million) and a 1909 Honus Wagner baseball card ($1.265 million).

      The first ball thrown out at the April 20, 1912, debut of Fenway Park was expected to draw up to $50,000. Umpire Tom Connolly held onto the ball, which is inscribed in his handwriting: ''Fenway Park, First Ball Pitched.''

      An opening day ticket stub from Fenway is also on the block, with bidding expected to reach $6,000. The ticket, for a bleacher seat at the ballpark, cost 25 cents back in 1912.

      Other notable items available for bidding by Red Sox fans:

       A Ted Williams full game uniform from 1959, a lasting memento of the now-cryogenically kept Hall of Famer ($75,000-$100,000).

       A 1915 Babe Ruth rookie card, in his full Boston game uniform ($100,000-$125,000).

       A 1969 home jersey belonging to the doomed Tony Conigliaro, the one-time Red Sox prodigy whose promising career was derailed by a 1967 beanball to his face. ''Tony C,'' as he was known to fans, died of a heart attack in 1990; the jersey, with its familiar No. 25, is expected to bring $6,000-$8,000.

       And for bargain seekers, a baseball signed by members of the pennant-winning 1946 Red Sox, including Ted Williams ($700-900).

      A reminder of Boston's bitter 1986 World Series loss is up for sale: Bill Buckner's American League championship ring, complete with a letter of authentication. It was the first baseman's error in Game 6 of the World Series that allowed the New York Mets to come back and win the title.

      Buckner's ring is expected to bring up to $30,000.

      For fans of sports writing, there are several lots devoted to the late Pulitzer Prize-winning sportswriter Jim Murray of The Los Angeles Times. Murray's vintage typewriter, a pair of his glasses and an article on ''The Worst Boors in Sports'' are packaged in a lot expected to draw bids of up to $6,000.

      â€â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€Ã¢â‚¬â€=

      On the Net:

      http://www.sothebys.com

[Velcro]

Thanks Bullo... nope, I want a copy of the contract sending Arod to the yankees, after all, that is the new curse.

[BULLO12]

Thanks Bullo... nope, I want a copy of the contract sending Arod to the yankees, after all, that is the new curse.

LOL LOL LOL LOL...True enough

[BULLO12]

HEY Velcro you did buy the contract didn't ya??!!!!!

Babe Ruth Sale Contract Sells for $996K

By LARRY McSHANE, Associated Press Writer

26 minutes ago

NEW YORK - The "cursed" 1919 contract that shipped Babe Ruth from Boston to the Bronx sold at auction Friday for a staggering $996,000, delighting its new owner  a die-hard Yankees fan  and a hunger-relief group designated to receive a financial windfall from the sale.

"I was prepared to pay almost whatever it took," said Pete Siegel, (this is really velcro, he had to disguise the purchase from the new spouse) head of Manhattan-based Gotta Have It Collectibles, after his winning offer. "I'm not saying a billion dollars, but whatever price I needed to secure it."

The crowd at Sotheby's burst into cheers when the final hammer came down after 15 minutes of intense bidding. The five-page typed contract recorded the unprecedented deal blamed for dooming generations of Red Sox fans to heartbreak as victims of "The Curse of the Bambino."

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, and nearly 10 times the $100,000 cost of purchasing Ruth.

It was a deal that had lasting repercussions in both cities. The Red Sox, with Ruth, had won the     World Series one year earlier. They wouldn't taste a title 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 while Boston suffered some of the most agonizing defeats in baseball history. Ruth went on to become one of the most dominant and recognizable figures in all sports.

"This, to me, is the most important sports document," said Siegel, who had no immediate plans for the contract other than to keep it in a safe place. "Besides sports, it crosses over into American history. It has a lot going for it."

Proceeds from the sale were donated to the hunger-relief organization America's Second Harvest, which provides food for 23 million low-income Americans each year. The contract was previously owned by Rhode Island philanthropist Alan Shawn Feinstein.

The cost of 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 ever 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 presale 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 2000.

The auction prices include the house premium of 20 percent on the first $200,000 and 12 percent thereafter.

[Velcro]

You caught me... but i rolled it up and smoked it, so i don't have it anymore.  ;D

[BULLO12]

You were smoking something if you paid that price...LOL

[Velcro]

not much less than the sox received for the babe