Yankee Stadium artifacts auction begins.

Countless items, including seats, available on Yankees.com..


NEW YORK -- Mariano Rivera wants the battered bench from the Yankees' bullpen. Reggie Jackson would like to get his hands on his old locker where he dressed after hitting three home runs in a World Series game. Mike Mussina has a long request list and is not even really a collector.

Lots of people are going to want the seats that Derek Jeter dove into to catch a foul ball one fine evening against Boston. There will be sections of the white frieze available, and they are going to try to cut up the foul poles, which are filled with cement. You can have seats that you sat in, you can have seats Jeffrey Maier sat in, you can have Joe Torre's old desk.

You can have it all, or just about all of it. Demolition on old Yankee Stadium begins in June, and on Tuesday the Yankees announced the launch of the Yankee Stadium Legends Auction on MLB.com. They provided details of what promises to be an emotional and amazing sell-off of artifacts from the home of 26 World Series championships.

Happy Father's Day to someone.

"What we're really talking about is memories," said Yankees chief operating officer Lonn Trost, wearing memories of his own by flashing a world championship ring on each hand during the news conference.

"Yankee Stadium has played host to in excess of 164 million fans. You're looking at over 87 million fans since the renovation. We have memories, memories with children, with our parents and grandparents. Hundreds of these fans have inquired about how they can get a piece of these artifacts. The Yankees have worked with the city of New York to make it possible for fans to obtain pieces of these memorabilia."

Trost said the city of New York is receiving $11.5 million for granting the rights to sell off pieces of The House That Ruth Built. He said that is about four times what the city received from the Mets' auctioning of Shea Stadium artifacts. Trost also said proceeds from the sale will go to the Yankees Foundation.

Here are some of the highlights of items for sale:
Seat Packages. For $1,999, you can specify your seat location and own a pair of seats where you sat or where you consider important to remember. For $1,499, you can have a seat pair that will be randomly from anywhere in the ballpark. For $749, you can have a Commemorative Seat, which means it is the original seat back and bottom, with new commemorative cast iron arms.

Bleacher Seats. There was a section of blue, well-worn bleacher seating on the stage, so familiar to those who whiled away days and nights on that surface. The generic seat price is $399 for a single seat and $699 for double seats. The specific season-ticket seat price is $449 for a single seat and $749 for a double seat. Again, you can hone in on what touched your life specifically or simply take random structure from the stadium.

Freeze-Dried Grass and Sod Packages. It costs $80 for Freeze-Dried Grass, and you can plant it or display it. Trost was asked what he would most want from the stadium, and he said, "I'll probably look at that freeze-dried grass that can sit on your desk and is very affordable." For $120, you can have a one-foot-square piece of original Yankee Stadium sod, and for $280 you can have it in twice the dimension.

Ceremonial Monument Park Bricks. Remember those treasured times you might have walked through Monument Park to see the tributes to Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Don Mattingly and other pinstripe heroes? These are the bricks people walked upon. It comes in glass with a plaque, and it costs $149.

Dirt Crystals. No, not actually crystals of dirt. It's a crystal display featuring the real stuff that players worked their craft upon, and it features the 2008 Final Season logo. It's $80.

There are several hundred items on display right now, and over coming weeks more will be added.

One of the coolest artifacts, bar none, is a door that opened into the Yankees' exercise room. It has a huge gash right in the middle -- the result of Derek Jeter hitting it with a bat before every pregame workout.

Some things are headed to Cooperstown as well, and some already are housed in the new Yankees Museum inside the modern ballpark. Trost said the club is "in discussions" with the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum about which artifacts belong upstate.

"We are excited to give our great fans a chance to take home a piece of the Yankee Stadium legacy through this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Trost said. "These treasures allow the Yankees' legacy to live on and provide fans with keepsakes they can pass along from generation to generation."

The auction will close on July 24, between 8-10 p.m. ET.

MLB.com

What's left over that the players with all the dough & others in the money don't get is going to make some fantastic items for sports bars, etc......

http://www.northjersey.com/sports/0...s_Stadium_has_an_outgoing_pair_for_49999.html



Need new chairs? Giants Stadium has a pair for $499.99
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Last updated: Thursday January 14, 2010, 7:02 PM
<!-- These are links to email the story, printer-friendly version and comment anchor. -->BY JOHN BRENNAN
The Record
STAFF WRITER
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Memorabilia dealer Brandon Steiner says nostalgic fans bought $3 million worth of dirt from the old Yankee Stadium, and another $800,000 in freeze-dried grass.
So what’s likely to be a big lure for collectors from Giants Stadium, which is being torn down this year?
“Turf,” Steiner answered Thursday at a press conference at the stadium to kick off memorabilia sales from the 34-year-old building, which is being replaced by a new stadium next door. “You can take a piece of turf to your basement, and that would be your carpet. You don’t have to water it, either. Doormats, car mats — we have other ideas.”
Some fans also like to buy a pair of stadium seats for their dens. The cost will be $499.99 for a pair of Giants Stadium seats — a bit more than half the cost of a pair from Shea Stadium and one-third of the cost of two Yankee Stadium seats.
“It’s a different kind of challenge,” Steiner said, noting the difference between the number of home football games and baseball games. “You have 81 home games and [numerous possible] playoff games in baseball, versus 10 games and one or two playoff games before the Super Bowl. Also, there are more seats [in football], and also we wanted to offer something more affordable in a difficult economic time. And they’re a little less expensive to remove [at Giants Stadium].”
The Giants and Jets, who hired Steiner to direct memorabilia sales, are attempting to recoup much or all of demolition costs of Giants Stadium. Mark Lamping, chief executive of the new, unnamed stadium, indicated that tearing down Giants Stadium — the building will likely be gone by Labor Day — could cost nearly as much as the $17 million tab for eradicating the Mets’ old home in Queens.
The Giants were represented Thursday by Joe Morris, Ottis Anderson and Stephen Baker. Former Jet Mark Gastineau was joined by receiver Wayne Chrebet of Garfield and Bruce Harper of Englewood.
“I played here, but I also have great memories of going to games as a kid,” said Chrebet, who said he went mainly to Giants games. “I remember when I was 17, and sitting up in the 300 level.”
Harper vividly recalled a drive to Kutztown State, where he attended college in Pennsylvania, as Giants Stadium was being built in the 1970s.
“I remember I had aspirations of going pro,” Harper said. “One time I stopped on the [New Jersey] Turnpike. I got out of my car, and I was peering through the fence. I asked myself, ‘Will I ever get to play in that stadium?’”
Harper and Chrebet, who already own memorabilia from Yankee Stadium, each said they likely would acquire a pair of seats.
Asked if there are any items from the locker room or other areas that he’d like to have, Chrebet smiled mischieviously and replied, “Anything I wanted, I already stole.”
E-mail: brennan@northjersey.com
<!--endclickprintinclude-->
<!--startclickprintinclude--><!--endclickprintinclude-->Memorabilia dealer Brandon Steiner says nostalgic fans bought $3 million worth of dirt from the old Yankee Stadium, and another $800,000 in freeze-dried grass.
STEINER SPORTS
The cost is $499.99 for a pair of Giants Stadium seats — a bit more than half the cost of a pair from Shea Stadium and one-third of the cost of two Yankee Stadium seats.


So what’s likely to be a big lure for collectors from Giants Stadium, which is being torn down this year?
“Turf,” Steiner answered Thursday at a press conference at the stadium to kick off memorabilia sales from the 34-year-old building, which is being replaced by a new stadium next door. “You can take a piece of turf to your basement, and that would be your carpet. You don’t have to water it, either. Doormats, car mats — we have other ideas.”
Some fans also like to buy a pair of stadium seats for their dens. The cost will be $499.99 for a pair of Giants Stadium seats — a bit more than half the cost of a pair from Shea Stadium and one-third of the cost of two Yankee Stadium seats.
“It’s a different kind of challenge,” Steiner said, noting the difference between the number of home football games and baseball games. “You have 81 home games and [numerous possible] playoff games in baseball, versus 10 games and one or two playoff games before the Super Bowl. Also, there are more seats [in football], and also we wanted to offer something more affordable in a difficult economic time. And they’re a little less expensive to remove [at Giants Stadium].”
By the numbers
A pair of Giants Stadium seats, which have just gone on sale, seem like a bargain compared to other recent sales of the same item. These are the costs to buy two seats from each site:
<TABLE cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=1 width=220 border=1><TBODY><TR><TD>Yankee Stadium</TD><TD>$1,499.99</TD></TR><TR><TD>Shea Stadium</TD><TD>$869.00</TD></TR><TR><TD>Giants Stadium</TD><TD>$499.99</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>


STEINER SPORTS
Also for sale are pieces of turf from the stadium.


The Giants and Jets, who hired Steiner to direct memorabilia sales, are attempting to recoup much or all of demolition costs of Giants Stadium. Mark Lamping, chief executive of the new, unnamed stadium, indicated that tearing down Giants Stadium — the building will likely be gone by Labor Day — could cost nearly as much as the $17 million tab for eradicating the Mets’ old home in Queens.
The Giants were represented Thursday by Joe Morris, Ottis Anderson and Stephen Baker. Former Jet Mark Gastineau was joined by receiver Wayne Chrebet of Garfield and Bruce Harper of Englewood.
“I played here, but I also have great memories of going to games as a kid,” said Chrebet, who said he went mainly to Giants games. “I remember when I was 17, and sitting up in the 300 level.”
Harper vividly recalled a drive to Kutztown State, where he attended college in Pennsylvania, as Giants Stadium was being built in the 1970s.
“I remember I had aspirations of going pro,” Harper said. “One time I stopped on the [New Jersey] Turnpike. I got out of my car, and I was peering through the fence. I asked myself, ‘Will I ever get to play in that stadium?’”
Harper and Chrebet, who already own memorabilia from Yankee Stadium, each said they likely would acquire a pair of seats.
Asked if there are any items from the locker room or other areas that he’d like to have, Chrebet smiled mischieviously and replied, “Anything I wanted, I already stole.”
E-mail: brennan@northjersey.com