The watch that Lou Gehrig won with the 1928 New York Yankees will make a star appearance at SCP Auctions' Mid-Summer Classic sale, which opens for bids on August 6.

Lou Gehrig is second only to Babe Ruth in terms of collectibility

The watch last sold at Heritage Auctions in 2011, where it made an impressive $155,350.

However, the sports memorabilia market has boomed in recent years, and the watch could benefit from this wave of popularity, selling for a much higher price on sale day. In its last sale, SCP Auctions sold Babe Ruth's 1927 Yankees watch for $650,000.

Babe Ruth's 1927 Yankees team are the pinnacle of the baseball collecting, with Lou Gehrig's 1928 Yankees team coming in a very close second, although both were part of the team in both years.

"Babe Ruth is to Lou Gehrig as the 1927 New York Yankees are to the 1928 New York Yankees," stated Heritage Auctions in the 2011 lot description.

Even Gehrig himself accepted his second fiddle role: "I'm not a headline guy. I know that as long as I was following Ruth to the plate I could have stood on my head and no one would have known the difference."

Nonetheless, Gehrig was one of the greatest players the sport has ever seen and, in 1928, was instrumental in the World Series sweep of the St Louis Cardinals.

The watch itself is a Hamilton "Piping Rock", considered the finest produced by the period's leading manufacturer and made only for the 1928 Yankees. Reproduced in recent years, it features an impressive design on the back of the case reading "Yankees 1928 World Champions".

"'Holy Grail' terminology is bandied about far too often in the cataloging of collectibles, but is fully appropriate in this instance," said Heritage in 2011.

At the time of the first sale, the watch was not operational - it remains to be seen whether a restoration has been completed in the years since.

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