McGwire's 70th HR, other Valuable Blasts

Despite the onset of a new millennium, the sports world is not ending. It's just insane. More than 400 multimillionaires are back at work; Michael Jordan has dusted off his rocking chair; and someone has plunked down $3.05 million, with commission, for Mark McGwire's 70th home run baseball. The same person continued his spending spree by buying Sammy Sosa's 66th home run ball for $150,000 and McGwire's 63rd, 67th and 68th home run balls. The buyer was bidding anonymously and was bidding against Stonehenge, a retailer of ties, which was going to use the ball for promotional purposes. Everyone who weighed in on the side of giving the historic ball back to McGwire knows now that a researcher at Washington University at St Louis is $2.7 million richer. Nice catch. Phil Ozersky, the former owner of No. 70, had said before the sale that he planned to give about half of the proceeds to charity. The IRS can't be too far behind. Perhaps more interesting than the big nut item on Jan. 12, 1999, sale at the Old Felt Forum lobby of Madison Square Garden were several lesser items among the remaining 40. Some observers thought the $69,000 paid for a ball signed by both Ruth and Maris was very high, though it stands to be a rare 60 HR Club ball, if Sosa's and McGwire's signatures are added. Still others thought the $15,000 paid for Sosa's No. 61 home run ball was "a steal" as was the $5,000 paid for a McGwire game bat from the '98 season.

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