How could a baseball artifact possibly top a ball signed by both Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig?
How about a ball signed by Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Ty Cobb, Cy Young, Tris Speaker, George Sisler, Walter Johnson, Connie Mack, Nap Lajoie, Eddie Collins and Pete Alexander, on the day they all entered the Baseball Hall of Fame?
Such a ball just sold for $623,369, SCP auctions said Monday. That crushes the record of $345,000 for a signed baseball, set in 2013 for a Ruth-Gehrig ball.
The seller was not identified, and the winner who outbid 28 other prospective buyers was identified only as a Southern California collector.
The only living original inductee who didn't sign the ball was Lou Gehrig, who on that day was headed to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota where he'd be diagnosed with ALS, the disease that would end his career, take his life and unofficially bear his name.
It was on June 12, 1939, that the Baseball Hall of Fame first opened its doors, though it had been choosing members for three years by then. Most were already dead.
Marv Owen, the star Detroit Tigers third baseman then playing for the Chicago White Sox, was in Cooperstown, N.Y., to play in an exhibition marking the occasion. His former teammate Hank Greenberg was also there, and had brought along two balls for the inductees to sign, but was too bashful to approach them. Owen wasn't, and he got all 11 to sign. He kept one for himself and gave the other to Greenberg.
"With autographed balls, very few can you trace to the point of origin, the point of signing, where you know the circumstances of where it was acquired," said Dan Imler, vice president of SCP Auctions. "It's incredible. It almost puts you in that moment, which is very, very rare for a ball."
"Ultimately that panel of Cobb, Ruth, Wagner is what puts it over the top," said Kevin Keating of Professional Sports Authenticator, who verified the ball's legitimacy. "Those are the elite of the elite. The fact that he got those guys the way he did, in that perfect order on one panel, it's almost as if it's by design."
Owen put his ball in a safe-deposit box, and his family kept it until 1997, when it sold for $55,000.
Greenberg's ball has been lost to history.
Browns and beer
Cleveland fans will get a reward for the Browns' first victory, whenever it happens, and it will come in the form of free beer.
Bud Light will have 10 "Victory Fridges" filled with Bud Light bottles placed at different Cleveland-area bars that purchase them. Several of the fridges will be placed inside FirstEnergy stadium, per cleveland.com.
Andy Goeler, vice president of marketing for Bud Light, said the victory fridges are a way to honor the loyalty of Browns fans. Bud Light fulfilled a similar promise to Eagles offensive tackle Lane Johnson, guaranteeing a beer for every fan at a bar that was on the route of the Eagles' Super Bowl victory parade.
"We're always cheering for them," Goeler told reporters. "Obviously, they haven't won in a while. We're putting victory fridges out into the marketplace. When the Cleveland Browns win, at the end of the game, these refrigerators ... will send a wireless signal that will unlock them and give fans the opportunity to have a celebratory Bud Light."
Goeler said the beer in the victory fridges will be changed out every month, if necessary, to ensure the product stays fresh, per ESPN.
Sports quiz
When was the last year the Cleveland Browns started the regular season with a victory?
Sports answer
The Browns won their season opener in 2004 -- a 20-3 victory over the Baltimore Ravens.
Sports on 08/15/2018