A baseball signed by Yankees legend Eddie Plank headlined a sale dedicated to the New York side at Heritage Auctions.
It made $228,000.
Eddie Plank was one of the best pitchers in baseball history
That makes it the second most valuable signed baseball ever auctioned. The record is $388,375, set for a specimen featuring a particularly fine Babe Ruth signature in 2012.
Plank (1875-1926) was one of the finest pitchers ever to play the game. He’s still ranked 11th, despite retiring 100 years ago in 1917.
He signed the ball in 1915, during his brief tenure with the St Louis Terriers.
It’s one of two known Plank-signed balls. The other sold for $83,650 at Heritage in 2011.
Lou Gehrig’s 1931 contract with the Yankees made $216,000.
That season is considered to be one of Gehrig’s best.
Demand has been growing for baseball contracts associated with classic players. In July, Babe Ruth’s 1919 Red Sox transfer contract sold for a record $2.3m.
The sale represents the last in a major sequence of sports memorabilia auctions at Heritage this year.
“This has been the busiest period in our history,” said Chris Ivy of Heritage.
“It’s gratifying to see all that hard work pay off. To see confirmation that the market can absorb this high volume of elite material.”
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