Joe DiMaggio

 

Sports Memorabilia

JoeEven today’s modern kids who might not even watch baseball or be able to name one single player have heard the name Joe DiMaggio. His name is synonymous with baseball and sports, as he was part of the game during its glory days, when it seemed every American boy dreamed of seeing the Yankees or the Dodgers play ball in their home stadium and win the World Series. He played for the New York Yankees during his entire pro baseball career, something rarely seen today.

Joe DiMaggio was born in 1914 in Martinez, California, the 8th child of 9 born to Sicilian immigrants. His family moved to San Francisco a year later. His father wanted him to be a fisherman like he and his father before him, but the smell of the boat made Joe nauseous, so he had no desire to walk in his father’s footsteps. Joe played semi-pro ball until 1934, when he tore some knee ligaments and the Seals, the team that wanted to sell him to a pro team found themselves with an injured player that no one would pay for.

The Chicago Cubs wouldn’t even allow Joe to try out because of the injury, but the New York Yankees’ scout was impressed and bought his contract, for a quarter of the prices the Seals had hoped to get. He stayed with the Seals for the next season, and became their Most Valuable Player, before the switch was made to the New York Yankees. Joe DiMaggio batted for the first time in the major leagues in 1936, right before Lou Gehrig’s turn at bat.

DiMaggio did something no one else had done before by getting 75 home runs in his first two major league baseball seasons. They won the first 4 Fall Classics after bringing Joe onto the team, and ending up winning 9 titles over the next 13 years. Joe DiMaggio was often compared to baseball greats Babe Ruth, Joe Jackson and Ty Cobb by sportswriters, also earning him the nicknames Joltin’ Joe and The Yankee Clipper. Several years after his retirement in 1951 he was voted the greatest living baseball player by a poll of pro players in 1969.

Throughout his career, Joe DiMaggio won three Most Valuable Player awards and was an All-Star 13 times. He still holds the distinction of the being the only baseball player in history who was an All-Star every season in which he played. He set a record with a 56-game hitting streak, and managed to hit in 72 out of 73 games, an impressive achievement. Just two years before his retirement, in 1949, he was regarded as the best baseball player, but injuries and the pain they caused led to his retirement just two years later. He entered the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1955.

Popular Joe DiMaggio collectibles are baseball jerseys bearing his retired #5, New York Yankees sports memorabilia that’s tied to DiMaggio, particularly from his early career, and autographed items.

Originally posted 2008-11-15 14:13:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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Lou Gehrig

Sports Memorabilia -> Fan Apparel & Souvenirs -> New York Yankees

Lou Gehrig, whose full name was actually Henry Louis Gehrig, is one of the most well-known names, not just in the history of baseball, but in the history of sports. He’s distinguished because of his remarkable career as a player, and his dignity in the face of the illness that forced him away from the sport he loved.

Lou Gehrig played in 2,130 consecutive baseball games, a record that wasn’t broken until Cal Ripken, Jr. bypassed that number in 1995. The game that ended Gehrig’s consecutive streak came after his health began to mysteriously fail was a Detroit game against the Tigers in which he benched himself for the good of the team. The news was so shocking that the announcer told the crowd that it was the first time Gehrig hadn’t played in 2,130 consecutive games. They gave him a standing ovation.

Gehrig’s fame first came because of his hitting ability. He was known as the Iron Horse and set many Major League Baseball records. In fact, Lou Gehrig set one record that still stands today—23 grand slams, the most grand slams in any baseball player’s career.

For those looking for Lou Gehrig memorabilia, authentic autographed items run from about $5000 to $20,000 and more, so beware of cheaper auctioned items claiming to be authentic. Look in well-respected sports memorabilia stores for the best items, and look for items that aren’t perhaps authentic signed items, but somehow related to the Yankees during Gehrig’s era.

Lou Gehrig played for the New York Yankees until illness put him on the bench, where he remained as the team captain for a few weeks before leaving entirely. He was only 36 years old when he was stricken with ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which has become commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. The disease is a neuromuscular disease that causes a slow paralysis to overtake the individual, which eventually prevents them from even breathing or swallowing without help, while the mind stays sharp.

Even when his health started to decline and his statistics dropped dramatically from the previous year’s statistics in 1938, his record was still good, just not outstanding as it had been previously. He accumulated an RBI of 1,995, a lifetime batting average of .340, and he was a seven-time All-Star, an impressive number since the first All-Star game wasn’t played until 1933, and his career ended just before the game in 1939. He was the 1927 American League Most Valuable Player twice and won the Triple Crown in 1934. All high distinctions, considering he played ball with Babe Ruth, another Major League legend, who often overshadowed all other baseball stars.

If Lou Gehrig’s career was distinguished, so was his exit from baseball. When the diagnosis of ALS was given, it was only two weeks before he stood up and gave his famous farewell speech to a packed crowd, which stood and applauded him for two solid minutes. In that speech, he said he was “the luckiest man on the face of this earth.”

Originally posted 2008-10-25 05:00:13. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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Mickey Mantle

Sports -> Baseball Memorabilia

Mickey Mantle

When asked to list some of baseball’s greatest players, many people would list Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Ty Cobb, but no list would be complete without Mickey Mantle. The Oklahoma native was born to a father who was already a huge baseball fan and actually named his son after Mickey Cochrane, a Hall of Fame catcher in the sport.

Mickey Mantle was an athlete through high school and college, and because of his college football career he developed osteomyelitis, a potentially fatal condition that had only recently been researched enough to find that penicillin could stop its progress. The disease was a crippling disease that could have cost him his leg, if not for proper, quick treatment. Because of this condition he couldn’t serve in the military and some baseball fans looked down on him for not serving in the Korean War instead of playing baseball professionally, as he did.

He was spotted by a Yankees scout when he was just in high school. The scout came back on the day Mantle graduated high school and signed him to the minor league team. He played for the Yankees in 1951 in his first World Series game, then replaced Jo DiMaggio in 1952 after his retirement. Mickey Mantle held the record for the most runs scored and the most runs batted in during the World Series, as well as the most World Series home runs.

Mickey Mantle also was known for hitting the longest home runs, with some estimated at having traveled between 550 and 650 feet. Though Ruth, DiMaggio and two other ball players had been paid more during their careers, in 1961 Mantle became the highest paid active player, with a contract for $75,000.

Mickey Mantle often battled injury during his career, with knee problems and frequent pain. He hit his last home run in 1968 and retired in 1969. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974, and the Yankees retired #7 in his honor. Mantle admitted alcoholism late in life and underwent treatment at the Betty Ford Clinic in 1994. In 1995 after the bombing of the Oklahoma City Federal building he worked to raise money for the victims and their families. Soon after, he received a liver transplant to replace the one ravaged by alcoholism and hepatitis. This caused controversy because of how quickly and easily he received an organ when others had been on a waiting list for months and years.

He also created the Mickey Mantle foundation to raise awareness about the need for organ donation and to help families struggling while waiting for an organ for a loved one. Despite the transplant, he died about two months later because the liver cancer had spread before the transplant.
Mickey Mantle memorabilia can be found in shops dedicated to sports memorabilia or in online auctions, where a huge variety is available. There is usually a lot of competition for these items, so be sure to research what’s most valuable at the time before placing your maximum bid.

Originally posted 2008-12-13 05:00:11. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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World Series

Sports Memorabilia -> Fan Apparel & Souvenirs -> World Series

Even someone who knows very little about sports most likely knows what the World Series is all about, because it’s heavily advertised and almost impossible to avoid during the fall. The World Series is Major League Baseball’s championship series, played every autumn to determine the winning team, considered the champion of the entire baseball season. Years ago, this championship was often called the Fall Classic, the October Classic, or The Series.

Major League Baseball is made up of 29 clubs, split between the American League and the National League, which includes a Canadian team. Each League has its own championship series preceding the World Series to determine which team is their League champ and will go on to play against the other League’s winner in the World Series.

The World Series has been an annual event since 1903, though baseball has included some sort of championship playoff or formula since about 1860. The ‘World Series’ only refers to those championships played since 1903, however, which are known as the modern playoffs. The series is played in 7 games, with one team winning the best of 7 and taking the championship. This has been the standard formula, except in 1903, 1919, 1920 and 1921 when the series was actually played according to the best of 9 games. Winners get the famous World Series Trophy and each player on the team gets a World Series ring. The winning team also gets a larger percentage of ticket profits than the losing team.

For World Series memorabilia collectors, there’s no shortage of items in collector sporting goods stores and online auctions like eBay. Some collector favorites include New York Yankees memorabilia. The Yankees, an American League team, have the distinction of having won more World Series championships than any other team. They’ve played in 39 of the 104 series, and won 26 of them. The Dodgers of the National League rank 2nd in total World Series, with 18 appearances, though they’ve only won 6 of those times. And the St. Louis Cardinals, a National League club, have appeared in the series 17 times and won 10 of those, the most wins of any National League team.

Another Major League Baseball team holds another sort of World Series record, but this time for having the longest World Series losing streak. The Chicago Cubs haven’t won a world series since 1908, making them unpopular with many fans, and giving them underdog status which makes them even more popular with others.

World Series memorabilia is a popular item on eBay. The items differ by the year of the series, with the teams meeting in the final seven games being depicted on T-shirts, programs, hats, sports equipment and other items, with the ultimate winner being commemorated on those items and many more. Ask the sellers if the items are official releases of Major League Baseball, and check tags for that mark once you receive them. Signed items should be carefully examined, with the signatures compared to known signatures of the player.

Originally posted 2008-11-01 14:00:51. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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