Hunt's: Great Memorabilia

This is my final installment of interesting and noteworthy items from Hunt's early March auction. Go here, here and here for my past blog stories.

Here is a little bit of folk art from the personal collection of former major leaguer Fred Haney. Some of you may remember him as the radio play by play announcer for the Hollywood Stars. He has taken 20 bats and 11 baseballs and made a very sturdy bench. The black bats are commemorative Louisville Slugger championship bats and the others are player model bats. There are even signatures of Haney, Joe McCarthy and Roger Peckinpaugh on the baseballs. It sold for $6,000.00.

Auction Link: Baseball Bat Bench:

Below are a couple of uncut sheets of probably the most attractive cards ever produced in the 80's. These are Perez-Steele postcards series 1 to 6 in uncut form. They were very popular and difficult to find during the collecting heydays of the 80's. Autograph collectors cherished this set since these postcards were a perfect backdrop for an athletes John Hancock. They could only be obtained through a subscription service and are limited in number. Another interesting thing about this particular item is that it comes directly from the collection of Frank Steele- the artist. It sold for $1,100.00.

Auction Link: Perez-Steele Collections Uncut Sheet:

Below is a photo you've probably never seen of a player wearing Baseball garb you probably never thought he put on. This is a rare St. Mary's Industrial School Baseball team photograph from 1910-1912 that features a teenage Babe Ruth (center top row) in catchers gear. It is actually a press photo that was glued onto cardboard backing and printed most likely in 1920 as a file pic to use for later stories. By that year Ruth was a member of the Red Sox and was gaining a great deal of popularity. It sold for $3,100.00.

Auction Link: Ruth St. Mary's School Team Photo:

This is for the closeted Angels fans in the audience. Here is the first 2002 World Series Angels Championship ring I've seen for auction.

Dazzling design elements include a large iconic "A" inlaid with rubies and adorned with a halo amidst a background of dozens of small diamonds on the face. The words "World Champions" appear at the top and bottom of the bezel. The left shank features the recipients name "Espino" and year "2002" above a World Series logo in relief and the Angles season record "99-63". The opposite shank features the proclamation "Angels 1st Championship" above a rendering of a World Series trophy set inside Edison Field.

It sold for $10,500.00. Click the photo to enlarge it. Anyone know who Espino is?

Auction Link: 2002 Angels World Series Ring: