A rare Honus Wagner baseball card is expected to sell for between $1 and 1.5 million at auction.
The card is one of 60 Honus Wagner cards made in 1909 that are known to exist. Most of the existing cards are in poor condition, but this one is ranked as the sixth best quality amongst the surviving cards, making it a rare opportunity for collectors.
Wagner is one of baseball all-time great hitters with a lifetime batting average of .328. He lead the league in hitting eight times during his 21-year career.
Nothing signals the approach of spring than the opening of Spring Training baseball. In honor of another year of America’s pastime, here are some great baseball movies to enjoy.
Bull Durham (1988)
Profane, funny, brilliant. Susan Sarandon, Kevin Costner and Tim Robbins light up the screen as a fading baseball player (Costner) is brought to Durham, NC, to mentor the rising pitcher (Robbins). The dialogue absolutely sparkles.
Eight Men Out (1988)
John Sayles film of the fix of the 1919 World Series is a sober movie, and likely to be a bit boring to non baseball fans. But fans of the game (and history) will love the detail and conviction behind the film making.
Field of Dreams (1989)
Build it and they will come. Iowa farmer Kevin Costner listens to a voice that leads him down a path of madness, frustration, and, ultimately, reconciliation. Few films have ever caused men to cry in a theater as this one. It’s funny, touching and poetic.
Pride of the Yankees (1942)
Gary Cooper plays the great Yankee Lou Gehrig, with equal parts of tragedy and heroism. It is an ‘old fashion’ biopic, but devastatingly effective as we watch the rise to greatness (and fall into illness) of one of the game’s finest.
Bad News Bears (1976)
A drunk Walter Matthau is paid to coach the local kids baseball team, a motley collection of losers and misfits, including tomboy Tatum O’Neal. Riotously funny and non-PC, with a brilliant performance by Matthau.
With the Atlanta Braves in the rear view mirror following an offseason trade that sent him to the Cleveland Indians, it comes as little surprise to learn pitcher Derek Lowe has put his Atlanta, Georgia home on the market. Curbedbrings word that Lowe, a fifteen year MLB veteran currently in the twilight of his career, is asking $3.495 million for the award-winning Peachtree Battle Avenue home.
Found in the affluent Buckhead Village community of North Atlanta, Lowe’s property is a French country-styled home designed by Atlanta-based architect Stan Dixon. The interior boasts a spacious design accentuated by lofty exposed beam ceilings and detailed finishes, with more than 5,000-square-feet of living space. It includes a total of five bedrooms, six bathrooms, kitchen, living room and other standard home offerings, along with a few finer amenities like a finished basement with a wine cellar, cigar room, entertainment area and a private bedroom and bath. The main-floor master suite opens to the rear of the property, which includes a pool, patio and a sequestered cabana area with an outdoor fireplace.
An eighth round pick of the Mariners in 1991, Lowe broke into the big leagues with Seattle in 1997, but was packaged with catcher Jason Varitek in a midseason deal for Boston Red Sox reliever Heathcliff Slocumb. While Slocumb’s contributions in Seattle were marginal at best, Lowe and Varitek would develop into core components for Boston and were instrumental parts of the team’s championship in 2004 – the Red Sox’ first World Series title since 1918. Lowe’s best season came in 2002 when he finished the year 21-8 with an ERA of 2.56, made the first of two career All-Star appearances and finished third in the Cy Young Award voting.
Chicago Cubs legend Ron Santo has been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame – less than a year after dying of complications from bladder cancer at the age of 70.
Santo was revered in Chicago for his years as a player – and just as importantly – his 20+ years as a broadcaster.
Santo played third base for the Cubs in the 60s and 70s, hitting 342 home runs and driving in 1,331 runs during a 15-year major league career. He also won five straight Gold Gloves and was named to nine all-star teams. He is considered one the finest fielding third basemen in baseball history.
Santo would move on to the broadcast booth for WGN-AM in 1990, living and bleeding with every Cubs’ woe (which there were many). Even after losing his legs to diabetes he continued to work as a broadcast analyst.
Santo was elected to the hall by the newly created Golden Era committee.
Second baseman Roberto Alomar and pitcher Bert Blyleven have been elected into baseball’s Hall of Fame. Baseball Writers’ Association of America elected them today, after each narrowly missed last year. Alomar, who as named on 90% of the ballots, was a 12-time All-Star and 10-time Gold Glove winner during his career. He owns a career [...]
A rare Honus Wagner baseball card that was donated to an order of Roman Catholic nuns has sold at auction for $262,000. The card is one of 60 of the T206 Honus Wagner cards, made between 1909 and 1911, that are known to exist. The Baltimore-based School Sisters of Notre Dame put the card up [...]
Here’s a great catcher’s mitt and baseball from Hermès. In honor of their new dedicated Hermès Man store in New York, located at 62nd St and Madison Avenue – directly across the street from the Hermès flagship. To celebrate the store’s opening, Hermès produced a custom, limited edition custom baseball glove and ball set. The [...]
When the former major leaguer Ivan Ochoa laid a well-placed bunt down the third-base line for a single to lead off the game, it drew boos from the home crowd and a loud rejoinder from one fan: “Hit like a man.” But rather than an insult, Ochoa’s bunt served as the ultimate compliment. It [...]
We forget how amazing Ken Griffey Jr. was at playing baseball. We see him now, old, heavier, slow with the wrists, plodding down the basepaths – and we forget that ‘The Kid’ was one of the greatest to ever play the game of baseball. But all good things end.
“While I feel I am still able [...]
Stoic as always, Roy Halladay’s expression never changed. Until the end, that is. Until there was history — a perfect game, the marquee performance of his All-Star career. The Philadelphia Phillies’ ace threw the 20th perfect game in major league history, beating the Florida Marlins 1-0 on Saturday night. At 9:23 p.m., when he got [...]
