$161,000 - Record for Signed Baseball Realized

May 17 2007 2:56PM

A baseball signed by Hall of Fame pitcher Christy Mathewson sold in March for $161,000, setting a hobby record for a baseball signed by a single player, say auction officials.

According to Josh Wulkan, vice president of auction operations for Huggins & Scott Auctions, the firm that auctioned the ball, the previous high for a single-signed baseball was $150,000 in the private sale of a Babe Ruth-signed ball less than five years ago.

"Mathewson died in 1926. As far as we know, there are virtually no other single-signed balls from Mathewson with no removals of other names," says Wulkan. "All other Mathewson signed balls we've seen either have other players' signatures, or signatures from other players that have been removed."

The ball was consigned by a collector in Ohio, and drew 37 bids over two weeks of bidding.

The ball was hand-delivered by Huggins & Scott representatives to the East Coast buyer, two turned over a certified check to the auctioneers.

- Pepper Hastings