By William Stolerman
The baseball with which the NY Yankees star Alex Rodriguez hit his 500th career home run has sold for $103,590.
Only 22 players in the history of the game are part of the elite 500+ club and Rodriguez is only the third Yankees player to achieve this level of sporting excellence. He joins Mickey Mantle and the most recognisable name of all time – Babe Ruth.
The seller attended the game on August 4, 2007 and luckily caught Rodriguez's ball. He was reportedly a college student at the time.
Before the contest the ball had been pre-marked"A 107" and then after the record-breaking home run a hologram with a serial number was placed on the ball. This ensured the item's authenticity, which combined with the good condition it was kept in, contributed to the size of the final bid. Speculation remains however that a lot more would have been paid had the shadow of performance enhancing drugs not hung around the Yankee player.
SCP Auctions conducted the sale, which comes as no surprise because baseball memorabilia is an area they specialise in. They've also been responsible for the successful purchase of Barry Bonds' record breaking 756th home run ball for $752,467 and they also sold the original contract detailing Babe Ruth's transfer from the Boston Red Sox to the NY Yankees.
Via [luxist]
www.scpauctions.com