Did you know…

Babe Ruth’s Jersey, worn in 1920 when he was with the Yankees,  sold for $4.4 million dollars just the other day?  This set a record as the highest price paid for any item of sports memorabilia.  And it’s not just the Sultan of Swat’s jersey that has a heavy price tag; his home run balls, his bats and even his contracts command huge sums at auctions.

As long as we have had organized sports, we have had sports collectors.  Whether it’s a group of boys trading baseball cards or corporations bidding hundreds of thousands of dollars, for the privilege of owning a one of a kind piece of sports history, if a sports figure touched it, it’s going to be up for sale.  There is always someone out there who is willing to pay the going price for the pride of ownership.

And it’s just not baseball that racks up these kinds of prices.   Until the sale of Babe Ruth’s jersey, a copy of James Naismith’s founding rules of basketball held the record with a $4.3 million dollar sale price.   Muhammad Ali’s boxing gloves brought in a little over a million dollars when they were sold during an auction in conjunction with his 70^th birthday.

So whatever you collect that is associated with your favorite sports, be it signed pucks, golf balls, tennis rackets, baseballs or footballs, if your favorite sports personality touched it, signed it or used it, you can buy it.

If you could have anything that your favorite sports personality used during a winning game, what would it be?

Image source:  Flickr.com carloscappaticci