1951 Yankees & Monroe-signed Baseball
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GUEST:
1953, my grandmother was dating a jazz musician who happened to be a member of Marilyn Monroe's backup band. Marilyn decided to have a party at her house to show her appreciation to the band, and she showed up a couple of hours late, but when she came, she brought a baseball signed by the entire team, and Joe DiMaggio, and hand-signed them, and handed out about ten of them to the guests.
APPRAISER:
And this is a photograph of the party?
GUEST:
Yeah, and my grandmother is second from the right on the top.
APPRAISER:
And in this picture, I notice that Marilyn is holding the baseball. And then we have a magazine right here dated 1952, and it talks about the party. What we have here is a 1951 New York Yankees-signed team baseball. It's got fellows like a very young Mickey Mantle, in his rookie season, and of course, it has Joe DiMaggio, the captain of the Yankees, the Yankee Clipper, on the sweet spot. Now, as a rule of thumb, when someone not affiliated with the team signs a baseball, it dramatically decreases its value. This baseball is beautiful and it's in great shape, and it would probably be worth around $5,000 to $7,000. But Marilyn signed it. And good news for you, that's the exception to the rule. Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio are pop culture royalty, and here they both signed this phenomenal baseball, it's absolutely beautiful. The documentation is incredible. And I would insure it for, say, $15,000 at the very least. Not bad?
GUEST:
Nope.
APPRAISER:
Not bad considering you didn't have a ticket today, did you?
GUEST:
No, I… I had to sort of... I was supposed to be at a family reunion this weekend, and I decided I couldn't pass this up, and I didn't have a ticket, so I went and begged for one. It was worth it.
APPRAISER:
It's one of the most incredible signed baseballs I've ever seen.
GUEST:
Oh good.
APPRAISER:
It's magnificent and congratulations.
GUEST:
It's priceless to me, it's a family heirloom basically.
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