A baseball which was smashed for a home-run by Lou Gehrig in the 1928 World Series will sell on July 10 at the Major League Baseball All-Star FanFest.
 Gehrig's ball will be auctioned after 84 years in the same family |
The ball was hit by New York Yankees slugger Gehrig against the St Louis Cardinals, with his teammate Babe Ruth on base. Calling it his most significant home-run yet, Gehrig went on to lead a shining career with the Yankees until 1939, when he was diagnosed with the disease that is now named after him. He died just two years later in 1941.
Accompanying the match-winning ball is a dramatic newspaper account of the moment the consignor's great uncle, Bob Kurland, finally got his hands on it.
After being whacked into the bleachers by Gehrig, Kurland almost caught the ball straight-out, but another fan pulled his cap over his eyes, causing him to fumble the all-important catch. Luckily, Kurland had attended the game with his friend Scotty Stevenson, who fought off the scrabbling crowd and calmly handed the ball to its rightful owner.
It has been passed down through Kurland's family ever since. Unfortunately, after 84 years, the current vendor has been forced to sell in order to raise funds for her son's $200,000 medical school debt. The auction house has set a $100,000-200,000 estimate.
Also featuring in the monumental sale will be a selection of awards from Jim Palmer's legendary career. See our preview here. 2012 has already been an exciting year for baseball collectors, after the earliest Babe Ruth game-worn jersey set a world record for any sports memorabilia at $4.4m in May.
Check back with us for the results of this sale and more of the latest on baseball collecting. We also have a spectacular selection of sports memorabilia here.
