Just exactly how much is a piece of history worth? I guess it depends on who is bidding and why they want it.
How much are letters spelling out “Yankee Stadium” worth? They had hung over the main gate of the old stadium. I have been running these questions through my mind, and I have come up with the simple answer that the letters are priceless.
I am not suggesting they have the mass appeal of the original Declaration of Independence, but to sports fans across the world, they belong in Cooperstown. Last week, Reggie Jackson announced he would sell the 13 letters, “Yankee Stadium,” on the auction block at Sotheby’s on April 1. This is just not any piece of history like an old musket or a sweaty towel from Mick Jagger, but rather a slice of Americana, recognized around the world — the New York Yankees.
Jackson,“Mr. October,” bought the letters in 1976, and Sotheby’s estimates their value at between $300,000 and $600,000. That is a lot of cash, but it is a small price to own one of the most renowned signs in the world. Thousands of visitors know the New York Yankees and have passed by the stadium on the Major Deegan Expressway. For a piece of sport’s history from a franchise that began in 1901, the price is not that steep.
The Yankees are big sellers. Babe Ruth’s jersey sold for more $4.4 million; his bat brought in $1.2 million, and his contract went for $1 million. So what is so illogical about a purchase of $600,000 in letters that represents an entire century? The New York Yankees are the most historical franchise in any sport, and the sports’ memorabilia from that franchise carries its own history. It is not a question of waiting for these letters to obtain value because they come with their own ghosts: Babe Ruth, Whitey Ford, Mickey Mantle, Reggie Jackson, and now Derek Jeter.
I read about a little lock of Elvis Presley’s hair selling for $115,000 and a bottle of Thomas Jefferson’s wine selling for $158,000. I asked myself who would want a scraggly piece of hair for more than $100,000? And once a bottle of wine is opened, it’s no good. It’s $158,000 for wine you can’t even drink. So just how much is the sign from the old Yankee Stadium worth?
Yankees letters are more than just letters. They belong to baseball fans and should take their place in Cooperstown among the tributes to the greatest players in history. I am not particularly a Yankees’ fan or a baseball fan, but I recognize what these letters mean in sports history.
They come with the “Ghosts of Yankees Past” and all the men who have every played in Yankee stadium. In fact, if stadium. In fact, if I had $599,050 more than I do, I would bid on them.
