Date: Fri 22-Jan-1999

Publication: Ant

Author: JUDIR

Quick Words:

Guernsey's-Sykes-McGwire

Full Text:

The All American Dream

(with cuts)

By Cathy Sykes

NEW YORK CITY -- Only in America could a baseball, which costs only $5 over

the shelf, resell for $3,005,000, or a research scientist, while sipping beer

at a baseball game, reach up and grab a home run -- and forever change his

life. Yet Phil Ozersky did just that.

This week is known within the antiques trade as Americana Week: a celebration

of American culture, history and creations, which begins with the most

prestigious of all antiques shows, The Winter Antiques Show, sponsored by The

East Side Settlement House. It continues with other shows, major Americana

auctions and symposiums hosted by Sotheby's and Christie's, and many theme

exhibitions at museums.

On Tuesday, January 13, with backdrops and tables draped in red, white and

blue, Guernsey's auction house was an Americana event at its finest, and, for

Mr Ozersky, the day had all the makings of the American Dream. New auction

records established there also added another page to baseball's history books.

The crowd was super-charged, and their cheers and applause fueled bidders

toward astonishing hammer prices, chief among them a Mark McGwire record 70th

home run ball, which sold for $2,7000,000 plus buyer's premium, for a total of

$3,005,000.

"This was 23 times any record for a previous baseball sold," Arlan Ettinger of

Guernsey's proudly announced (a Babe Ruth Ball sold about one month ago for

$112,500 plus premium). "This was also ten times the price paid for any piece

of sports memorabilia."

Baseball is not only an American invention, it is an American tradition, and

it incorporates numerous rights of passage for men in this country: little

boys who twitch their way through school, dreaming of playing ball with their

dads; boys who grow up to become Dads who dream of having a son to play ball

with; and grandfathers who take grandsons to their first Big League game.

These are the dream catchers, the dream seekers.

It is fitting, then, that baseball is the only sport where the fans have the

opportunity to catch a ball; only in baseball can a fan snag a dream. And

major league players like Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa make these dreams come

true.

Because of his talent, Sosa, from a impoverished background in the Dominican

Republic, got the same break as McGwire, who hails from a privileged Chicago

suburb. This year of baseball records and auction records has set new goals,

new dreams, and new desires for all of America to reach for.

Also finding a niche in the American dream is eBay, Inc. In just three short

years, the firm has established itself as the world's largest person-to-person

online trading community, and has completed 39 million auction sales through

its service.

eBay offered the McGwire and Sosa baseballs on-line for five days prior to

actual viewing in New York, and although their three bidders were quickly

outbid by the frenzied audience during their first "On-Live‘" sale, the firm's

efforts brought the event into the home front. eBay currently has more than

7,000 McGwire and Sosa items on line for sale.

The live auction, which consisted of 41 lots, was executed by veteran

auctioneer Joanne Grant. Among the offerings were four Mark McGwire home run

balls, including his 63rd, 67th, 68th, and record-smashing 70th baseballs, and

Sammy Sosa's 61st, 64th and 66th home run balls.

Sammy Sosa's 66th, which traveled 462 feet, brought $150,000 from a telephone

bidder. The 53rd, 67th, and 68th McGwire baseballs, however, all went to

telephone bids for $50,000, clearly disappointing the consignors. The second

lot in the auction, the 61st Sammy Sosa home run baseball, went for a bargain

$16,000.

There were many objects of historical significance, such as lot 25 -- the Jim

Thorpe autographed ball, signed on August 23, 1951, in Carlisle, Pa., for

Little Leaguer Vance Brehm. Brehm was then just a boy of 12, a native resident

of Carlisle and a fan of Thorpe.

Other highlights included a Babe Ruth- and Roger Maris-autographed baseball,

which sold for $60,000, the only one known in existence. A bid of $20,000 was

levied for a Sammy Sosa 33rd home run baseball from the 1998 season. This

record-breaking ball was significant because it was the 20th home run Sosa hit

in the month of June -- a new major league record for the most home runs hit

in one month. It was this accomplishment that established Sosa a serious

competitor in the race against Mark McGwire.

Surprise was acknowledged throughout the audience when lot 36, a Hank Aaron

755th home run baseball, was passed at $800,000. This ball represented a world

record for most home runs in a career and was signed by Hank Aaron on the

sweet spot. Arlan Ettinger urged the bidders, both of whom were in the

audience, to contact him after the auction and try to complete the sale. A set

of 12 original architectural drawings for Yankee Stadium was passed at

$85,000.

Also disappointing to the crowd was the withdrawal of lot 20, announced by

Ettinger: Mickey Mantle's 500th career home run baseball would not be sold

because of a legal problem which arose less than ten minutes before it was due

to hit the block. Booing and heckling soon followed.

The auction offered four Babe Ruth baseballs. The most important of them, lot

35, was signed "To My Pal Walter Kent from Babe Ruth" and passed at $26,000.

A famous photograph of Walter Kent, taken on April 27, 1931, holding his most

prized possession -- which ran in conjunction with a detailed article

describing Ruth's three hospital visits with Kent -- tells the story well. The

boy had been in the hospital for five weeks, recovering from an operation to

remove a brain tumor. The ball is considered by many to be among the best

single-signed Ruth baseballs in existence.

After the auction, an exhilarated Ozersky was asked by a reporter what he

thought the ball would bring. The new millionaire responded, "Before the

auction, the sky was the limit, but now we know the limit of the sky."

Ozersky plans to continue being a research scientist -- just a scientist with

a nice bank account -- and will contribute to his favorite charities, which

include The Leukemia Society of America, The American Cancer Society, and

Cardinal's Care.

For information, Guernsey's can be reached at 212/794-2280. eBay can be

reached at 408/369-4830.