Mel Ott game-used memorabilia hitting market via SCP Auctions

Game-used memorabilia from one of baseball’s greatest sluggers is hitting the auction block next month.

SCP Auctions will be handling the sale of several items from Mel Ott, a Hall of Famer who hit 511 home runs and led the National League in long balls six times during a 22-year career — all with the New York Giants.

“It’s our pleasure to auction off these items from Mel Ott’s family,” says SCP Auctions President David Kohler. “He truly was a baseball treasure and we look forward to seeing how the bidding goes.”

Buzz Poll: Who wins Super Bowl LI?

We’re down to the last 12 NFL teams and that means we have just one question for the remainder of the football calendar.

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Vince Lombardi memorabilia to hit auction block via SCP in January

A number of treasures from the career of Hall of Fame football coach Vince Lombardi will be hitting the auction block in January via SCP Auctions, which is handling the sale of the items for his family.

Among them are championship rings, a congratulatory telegram and other personal items all consigned by the late coach’s only son.

“It is truly an honor for SCP Auctions to put these items up for bid on behalf of the Lombardi Family,” said SCP President David Kohler.

New York Giants great Lawrence Taylor is latest Panini VIP Party guest

LT is a VIP.

Former New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor is the latest guest for the Panini America VIP Party that’s set for Saturday night in Atlantic City, N.J. He’s the fifth guest revealed by the company and only one announced (so far) on Friday.

Christy Mathewson game-used jersey to be auctioned via Heritage

Christy Mathewson game-used memorabilia is elusive and expensive with the term “museum collection” being very applicable because there’s just one game-used jersey known to be in the hands of a private individual.

And that one gamer, a 1900-04 New York Giants jersey, is headed to the auction block in late August via Dallas-based Heritage Auctions.

“This Platinum Night auction will close within weeks of the centennial of Mathewson’s final pitching appearance, the last of a staggering tally of 373 major league victories, third best in baseball history,” reads the auction description. “The Sept. 4, 1916, contest against fellow pitching legend Mordecai Brown would likewise prove to be the last game of Three Fingers’ career. And in that century that has elapsed since that battle of aging titans, only a single example of Mathewson’s game-worn jerseys has surfaced within the collecting community.

“Heritage Auctions is honored and privileged by the opportunity to present that garment.”

PSA 9 Willie Mays 1952 Topps card opens Heritage sale at $200,000

Update: The card sold for $478,000.

“The Say Hey Kid” will likely be the next icon of the past to set a record on the auction block as one of the highest-graded specimens of a key card is now up for grabs via Heritage Auctions.

The card is a PSA 9 copy of Willie Mays‘ 1952 Topps card and the opening bid is $200,000.

Auction Gallery: Championship rings are the thing in current SCP sale

The current SCP Auctions sale includes items from the personal collections of Baseball Hall of Famer Don Drysdale and collections of memorabilia that include plenty of other big names, but it’s a selection of championship rings here that’s highlight-worthy.

Below is a gallery of 18 rings up for sale now and ending on April 23. Click below to enter the gallery, get a closer look, see who’s owned them and what the bidding sits at now.

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Lot #516 Harmon Killebrew’s 1965 Minnesota Twins American League Championship Ring (Killebrew COA) — Opening bid: $20,000

Lot #77 Don Drysdale’s 1965 Los Angeles Dodgers World Champions 14k Gold Ring (Drysdale Collection) — Current bid: $24,159

Lot #67 Don Drysdale’s 1963 Los Angeles Dodgers World Champions 14k Gold Ring (Drysdale Collection) — Current bid: $24,159

Lot #517 Harmon Killebrew’s 1987 Minnesota Twins World Series Ring in Original Presentation Box — Current bid: $10,000

Lot #15 Don Drysdale’s 1956 Brooklyn Dodgers National League Champions 10k Gold Ring (Drysdale Collection) — Current bid: $13,310

Lot #1143 2008 Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl XLIIIChampionship Ring Presented to Player Dallas Baker – Only SB XLIII Ring Ever Offered Publicly! — Current bid: $32,157

Lot #1133 1993 Dallas Cowboys Super Bowl XXVIII Champions 10k Gold Ring Issued to Linebacker Godfrey Myles — Current bid: $14,619

Lot #477 Duke Snider’s 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers National League Champions 10k Gold Ring (Snider COA) — Current bid: $12,081

Lot #775 2009 New York Yankees 14k Gold World Series Championship Ring (Staff) — Current bid: $9.983

Lot #1142 2007 New York Giants Super Bowl XLII Championship Ring Presented to WR Brandon London (London LOA) — Current bid: $16,081

Lot #809 1969 New York Mets World Series Champions 10k Gold Ring Issued To Director of Player Development & Future Gm Bob Scheffing (Scheffing Collection) — Current bid: $10,721

Lot #614 2010 San Francisco Giants World Series Champions 14k Gold Ring Presented to Vida Blue — Current bid: $14,272

Lot #1118 1983 Los Angeles Raiders Super Bowl XVIII World Championship Ring Presented to Linebacker Tony Caldwell — Current bid: $7,321

Lot #758 1978 New York Yankees World Series Championship 14k Gold Staff Ring — Current bid: $6,655

Lot #1060 2010 Los Angeles Lakers NBA World Championship “A Version” Ring Presented to Scout (Boyson) — Current bid: $5,857

Lot #1002 1955-56 Philadelphia Warriors World Championship 14k Gold Ring — Current bid: $4,235

Lot #584 1997 Florida Marlins World Series Champions 10k Gold Staff Ring — Current bid: $4,659

Lot #139 Don Drysdale’s 1988 Los Angeles Dodgers World Series Champions 14k Gold Ring (Drysdale Collection) — Current bid: $10,721

Baseball world loses legendary voice Joe Garagiola

For nine years, Joe Garagiola was a big-league catcher, but for decades after that he was a voice of baseball and a personality on network television.

He worked NBC‘s Game of the Week and World Series coverage and was a host of Today and a fill-in host on The Tonight Show, too. He died on Wednesday at age 90.

“We are deeply saddened by the loss of this amazing man who was not just beloved by those of us in his family, but to generations of baseball fans who he impacted during his eight decades in the game,” said a statement from his family. “Joe loved the game and passed that love onto family, his friends, his teammates, his listeners and everyone he came across as a player and broadcaster. His impact on the game, both on and off the field, will forever be felt.”

Baseball loses Hall of Famer Monte Irvin at age 96

Before he made his big-league debut in 1949, Monte Irvin had been a star in the Negro Leagues who was among the most-respected in the game — a player who had all-around skills and quite a strong career before making the leap to MLB and ultimate enshrinement in the Hall of Fame.

“Monte was the choice of all Negro National and American League club owners to serve as the No. 1 player to join a white major-league team,” Newark Eagles owner and Hall of Famer Effa Manley once said. “We all agreed, in meeting, he was the best qualified by temperament, character ability, sense of loyalty, morals, age, experiences and physique to represent us as the first black player to enter the white majors since the Walker brothers back in the 1880s. Of course, Branch Rickey lifted Jackie Robinson out of Negro ball and made him the first, and it turned out just fine.”

Irvin, who went on to eight seasons in the big leagues, hitting .293 with 99 homers and 443 RBI beginning as a 30-year-old “rookie,” died on Tuesday. He was 96.

National Treasures includes legendary first for John McGraw

He was known as “Little Napoleon” during his 17 seasons as a player that began way back in 1891 and during his 36 seasons as a manager that ended back in 1932, but the memorabilia cards of Baseball Hall of Famer John McGraw found in 2015 Panini National Treasures are a big deal.

Why? They’re unprecedented in hobby history.