Eddie Murray 500th Homerun Ball [Archive]

Eric

09-30-2006, 09:17 PM

Also mentioned in an interestin mlb.com story from 2001

4/18/2001 10:40 am ET

Where have all the 500 balls gone?

by Carrie Muskat
MLB.com

On Aug. 11, 1929, when Babe Ruth hit his 500th home run, legend has it that he told a New York cop he'd like to get the ball back. The officer, Detective H.C. Folger, found the young boy who caught the ball and arranged a meeting with the Babe. Ruth gave the boy an autographed ball and $20 in exchange for the historic souvenir.

On Sept. 6, 1996, Eddie Murray hit his 500th career home run off Detroit's Felipe Lira at Baltimore. Danny Jones retrieved the ball at Oriole Park at Camden Yards and then sold it to Baltimore businessman Michael Lasky, owner of the Psychic Friends Network, for $500,000.

Times - and prices - have changed.

Only 17 players have hit 500 home runs now that Barry Bonds has officially joined the club with his Tuesday night blast. Only four of the home run balls are in the National Baseball Hall of Fame: Ruth's, Hank Aaron's, Ted Williams' and Mel Ott's.

"The general public has come to refer to it as the 500 Home Run Club," said Peter Clark, the Hall's curator of collections. "It's like 300 wins for a pitcher. It's a good round number and a good place to separate the men from the boys."

Bonds' ball landed in McCovey Cove and was scooped up by Joe Figone, 39, a San Francisco parks supervisor who also has the first ball that splashed into the water outside of the Giants' Pac Bell Park, also hit by Bonds. Figone masterfully dodged the others waiting in the water with his red dingy, using a fishing net to retrieve the historic ball.

He plans on keeping the souvenir for now.

"I'm going to keep this as a bit of history," Figone said. "When I'm 60 years old, I'll be able to come back and say I've got the first ball and I've got the 500th home run ball that Barry Bonds hit."

The majority of the other 500 homer balls that boosted the players into the exclusive club are in private collections. Aaron's 715th home run ball is at the Atlanta Braves Hall of Fame Museum. Murray's 500th was donated to the Babe Ruth Museum in Baltimore, and is showcased along with memorabilia from other 500-club members. Mark McGwire's rookie jersey is on display along with Jimmie Foxx's MVP award and a Mickey Mantle jersey from 1957.

If Figone does decide to sell Bonds' ball, he should not expect to match Murray's $500,000 for No. 500.

"That was done out of hype," said Jimmy Spence, president of PSA/DNA vintage authentication services, a division of Collectors Universe, Inc. "We have a saying in the hobby: Things can sell for a tremendous amount of money if all the moons are aligned exactly. If you have one guy who is really hot for something, it means nothing. You need two psychos out there. If you're paying half a million dollars for an Eddie Murray ball, you're a psycho."

It takes more than history to add value to an item.

"I tend to think that now, despite Barry Bonds being an all-time great player, his personality tends to override his collectibility," said Phil Wood, columnist for the Sports Collectors Digest. "Despite his numbers over the years, Bonds has never really been what you'd call one of the prime collectible players.

"You find that people want to believe that their guy is a good guy," Wood said. "Bonds did the commercial with (Cal) Ripken with the earring and beyond that, he hasn't done a lot in terms of national media. You identify Ken Griffey Jr. with snack foods and Mark McGwire has been front and center on a number of issues and Cal is the All-American boy in the group."

Spence guessed Bonds' 500th home run ball could sell for $70,000 to $100,000, depending on the buyer.

"If it was Griffey Jr., you'd get a whole lot more," Spence said. "There's a difference in popularity and recognition. Barry Bonds has never gotten the national recognition in commercials and endorsements."

It's more than having a shoe named after you or a combo meal at a restaurant.

"Some guys know how to schmooze the crowd," Spence said. "A lot of these people don't know how to market themselves. These people could make a lot of money if they'd just smile once in a while, shake some hands, grin and bear it."

Wood has collected items related to his favorite team, the Washington Senators. He has about 30 uniforms, including outfielder Sam Rice's complete uniform from 1927.

"To me, it's a baseball and they all kind of look alike," Wood said of a 500 home run ball. "While it's a remarkable achievement, for something like that to be in a private collection isn't as neat as in a museum where thousands can see it."

McGwire wanted his 500th to go to Cooperstown but it sold to a sports memorabilia collector for an undisclosed amount. Jim Shearer, 28, who was first to pounce on the ball when it was hit Aug. 5, 1999, was offered $100,000 as an advance by sports agent Michael Barnes who then sold the ball to the collector. Shearer seemed as dazed by the hubbub over a $5 baseball as everyone else.

"You sit there and look at it and it's just a baseball," said Schearer. "But then you remember sitting in the stands and watching it sail toward your seat and it gets kind of exciting."

Spence had a chance to peek at Mickey Mantle's 500th home run ball for nine months. The ball was to have been included in the same auction as McGwire's historic 70th home run ball from the 1998 season, which sold in January 1999 for an astounding $3 million, the most money ever paid for a sports artifact. Canadian comic book creator Todd McFarlane bought No. 70 along with nine other home run balls, including McGwire's first, 63rd, 64th, 67th, 68th and 69th plus Sammy Sosa's 33rd, 61st and 66th from 1998. The zealous baseball fan created the McFarlane Collection, a display of the expensive souvenirs, which continues to tour around the country. The Mantle ball's status was disputed. Dale Cicero claimed he had Mantle's 500th, but Mantle's widow Merlyn contacted the auctioneer at the last minute and said she had the real home run ball at her Dallas home. However, Spence authenticated Cicero's ball, which Spence then kept in a safe for nine months. The Yankee great had apparently signed another ball commemorating the moment and given it to a friend, which was the one Merlyn Mantle had.

The real Mantle 500 home run ball was eventually sold to a private collector and some experts guess that person paid at least $200,000. The buyer has contacted Bill Mastro of Mastro Fine Sports Auctions about the possibility of putting the ball up for sale again.

The 500 home run club does draw interest.

"It's an elite club of ballplayers and any time you have that group together on an item, it causes interest with collectors," Mastro said.

There are bobbing head dolls for $79 of each of the 500 club members. A photo of 500 home run club members - Aaron, Mantle, Williams, Harmon Killebrew, Willie McCovey, Reggie Jackson, Eddie Mathews, Mike Schmidt, Ernie Banks, Frank Robinson and Willie Mays had a reserve price of $300 in a Roberts Edward Auction catalog from July 2000. A 500 Home Run Club signed baseball - with Williams' and Mantle's autographs on the sweet spots - also was listed at $300.

Reaching 500 is a special moment.

Fulton County Stadium used to mark the spot near the Fan-O-Gram board where Aaron hit his 500th on July 14, 1968 off the Giants' Mike McCormick. Philadelphia broadcaster Harry Kalas says he has saved only one tape and that is his home run call on April 18, 1987, when Schmidt joined the club, smashing his off Pittsburgh's Don Robinson.

"Swing, and a long drive. THERE IT IS! Career 500th home run for Michael Jack Schmidt."

If you want to join the club as an outsider, you're in luck. You can bid on McCovey's 500th. That ball will be sold via an internet and telephone auction June 7-8 by Mastro Fine Sports Auction.