Bid for 'a piece of history' of old Yankee Stadium
USA Today | Michael McCarthy
May 12, 2009
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/al/yankees/2009-05-12-yankee-auction_N.htm
The seats at the new Yankee Stadium won't be the only things expensive here in the Bronx. The New York Yankees and Steiner Sports announced details of a long-awaited public sale/auction that will enable fans to buy everything from player lockers and foul poles to Monument Park bricks and outfield grass from the original Yankee Stadium.
Starting today, fans will be able to bid on everything from ex-manager Joe Torre's locker to the seats where Reggie Jackson launched some of his longest home runs. The Yankees will also sell a banged-up exercise room door from the clubhouse that shortstop Derek Jeter whacked with his bat for good luck before every game. Also slated to go on sale is the seat where 12-year-old Yankees fan Jeffrey Maier reached over and interfered with Jeter's deep fly ball to right field that was declared a home run during a Yankees playoff win over the Baltimore Orioles in 1996.
Lonn Trost, the Yankees chief operating officer, said the auction allows fans to buy "a piece of history." Memorabilia available will range from seats, in-stadium signage and outfield sod to ticket turnstiles, infield dirt and player autographs, Trost said.
About 1,500 pieces will eventually go on sale during the auction that kicks off today at www.steinersports.com and ends July 26. Fans can also call 800-759-SCORE. Twenty-six items go on sale immediately, including:
•Pairs of Stadium seats ranging from $1,499 to $1,999 plus commemorative single seats for $750;
•Bleacher seats for $399;
•Original bricks from Monument Park in a glass case with the Yankees logo for $150;
•Final season crystals with dirt from the original stadium for $80;
•A Yankees bat rack from the home dugout;
•And a "Courage Tradition Heart" sign that was located above the awning of the Yankees front office.
• Among other items listed at SteinerSports.com: freeze-dried grass for $80; a Jeter-autographed seatback for $499.99; a turnstile for $2,025; a black "pleather" office chair used by general manager Brian Cashman with his name on the back for $5,000; and an autographed Babe Ruth baseball for $15,000.
•Got $50,000 lying around? Then you can be a proud owner of a large piece of the famous façade.
Yankees Steiner Collectibles is "concerned" about how the economic recession will impact sales, said Brandon Steiner, chief executive of Steiner Sports. "We have to be careful on the prices. We're not going to stick some insane prices in people's faces," he said.
At the low end, there will be items under a few hundred dollars such as the Monument Park bricks, seatbacks and bleachers seats the "Average Joe" will be able to buy, he said.
At the high end, the lockers of Jeter, Jackson and Torre will fetch very big money, he predicts. As well as the desks of current manager Joe Girardi, Cashman, the old foul poles and pieces of the home dugout.
"Joe Torre's locker is going to go for a lot of money. He's one of the prominent managers of our time. And it's Joe Torre," Steiner said.
The auction is already attracting customers from around the USA as well "international interest" in China and Japan, said Steiner. Some of the most interested are current Yankees like closer Mariano Rivera (who wants the beat-up bench from the old bullpen) and former Yankees Mike Mussina and Yogi Berra.
"I never thought of (Mussina) as a collector. But he certainly had a pretty good list of requests," Steiner said.
