Yankees Ring & George Sosnak-illustrated Baseball
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APPRAISER:
So, Les, you really made my day today. You bring in this great 1996 Yankees World Championship ring, and you bring in this so cool Mickey Mantle-signed portrait ball. What great souvenirs, especially since... I mean, the Yankees are just in Tampa, an hour away, for spring training, right?
GUEST:
Yes. I worked with the Yankees for 11 years. I was the director of Florida operations in Tampa. I was the first employee. Thank you, Lord.
APPRAISER:
(laughing) So what happened in '96?
GUEST:
We won the World Championship, and that was the result: a beautiful ring.
APPRAISER:
Do you wear it all the time?
GUEST:
I wear it all the time. The baseball was acquired at a baseball card show. This gentleman had three baseballs: He had a Mickey Mantle baseball, he had a Ted Williams baseball, and he had a Lou Gehrig baseball. So were they all decorated like this, with this funky writing and the pictures on them? He was an ex-umpire, and he had hand-printed those himself. Unfortunately, I didn't get his name. I wished I would have. But he had three of them, he was an older gentleman, and he told me that he was selling them because he knew he didn't have much longer to live and he wanted somebody that loved baseball to have them.
APPRAISER:
Well, I'm so thrilled you brought it in, because we've never had a baseball like this on the ROADSHOW, and I've always wanted to tell this story, because I know who the artist was.
GUEST:
That's... that's fantastic!
APPRAISER:
You ready? His name was George Sosnak.
GUEST:
George Sosnak.
APPRAISER:
George Sosnak.
GUEST:
Amazing! Amazing.
APPRAISER:
So let's take a look at this. He would send the ball away and he would have it signed just like it's signed here, Mickey Mantle, right?
GUEST:
Yes, yes.
APPRAISER:
And what he would do afterwards, he would put wording in India ink. It's like reading the Gettysburg Address on the head of a pin. And then at the end, he would put a little coat of shellac on there, and that's why it's got that color on it.
GUEST:
Oh, okay.
APPRAISER:
But yours is beautifully preserved. Let me give you some values here. So rings that were given out to staff and scouts and that type of thing generally sell for around $5,000 to $7,000.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
If you're going to insure it, I'd have you insure it for probably about $10,000. Now, the baseball, I've seen a number of these sold. If I was going to put an auction estimate on it, it would be $8,000 to $12,000.
GUEST:
(laughing) That's... that's... that, that amazes me. It amazes me. (clears throat) That's wonderful.
APPRAISER:
If I was going to put an insurance value on it, I'd put $20,000 on it.
GUEST:
(gasps)
APPRAISER:
So I have to say, Les, it's a pretty good trade.
GUEST:
That's a lot of money for me. (laughs) That's wonderful. Yeah. That'll pay for my wife's stem cell surgery, as she's... (laughs) Oh, my goodness.
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