sandis
01-23-2006, 01:19 PM
The dream collection
Sports memorabilia collector eyes coveted lot -- trip to auction with retired pitcher
By Gina Edwards
Monday, January 23, 2006
In his ultra-masculine wood-paneled Naples hideaway, Don Gunther chokes up on a Joe DiMaggio bat with all the boy-like wonder of an 8-year-old.
Mementos of sports' greatest legends overwhelm the room. They are pieces of history, and they are his. Hundreds of bats, signed by greats such as Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris, hang in glass-paneled cabinets and in custom racks that double as pub tables.
On a counter behind the bar is a pyramid of baseballs in protective acrylic cubes. At the top is a much-coveted single-signed Babe Ruth ball. Gunther has a single-signed Honus Wagner ball, a Ty Cobb, a Walter Johnson, a Christy Mathewson — the entire first class of the Hall of Fame in 1936.
There's not much that Gunther, a retired executive from construction giant Bechtel, doesn't have in the way of sports memorabilia.
That's why lot No. 44 up for grabs at Saturday's Naples Winter Wine Festival charity auction has him intrigued.
Another Neapolitan, retired San Diego Padres pitcher Sterling Hitchcock, has offered to escort the winning lot bidder to a super-exclusive Las Vegas sports memorabilia auction that's only open to baseball players and their guests.
"You know what you want," said Gunther, who, like most collectors, enjoys the thrill of the hunt. But, he added, "the gaps you have are harder to fill."
The Vegas auction trip might be a chance for Gunther to find some rare and unique stuff. But who is to say Gunther won't get bested at Saturday's wine festival auction by another sports junkie in attendance?
As auction organizers know, it only takes two bidders to drive up a price. And wine festival organizers encourage the elite group of attendees to "bid high and bid often" at the auction that last year raised more than $12 million for Naples children's charities. In five years, the festival has collected more than $26 million to benefit Naples causes.
Gunther is a trustee of the Naples Winter Wine Festival and last year hosted one of 17 exclusive dinners in which auction-going guests got to feast on a meal prepared by celebrity chef Tyler Florence in Gunther's home.
You can bet he will be bidding again this year. Gunther loves mixing his passion for sports with his passion for charity.
"If God gave you the ability to make money in this world, you've got to give it back to the right places," said Gunther, who has donated hundreds of thousands to the Naples Winter Wine Festival over the years.
Prices at the auction fetch well beyond retail, with auction organizers pushing guests to engage in philanthropic one-upmanship.
Hitchcock, and his wife, Carrey, who have lived here with their two daughters for five years, attended their first Naples Winter Wine Festival last year.
"You hear so much about it. We went into it not wanting to like it because of the prices and the hubbub," said the 34-year-old Hitchcock. "But, man, it is fantastic."
Hitchcock, who retired from the Padres in 2004 after an elbow injury, admits to spending much money after too much wine on a magnum of Screaming Eagle cult Cabernet at last year's auction.
Up for grabs in Lot 44, "Home Run for Fun," is a trip for two to Las Vegas to Garth Brooks' Teammates for Kids Foundation charity event in January 2007. The event is only open to baseball players, their guests and a few celebrity sportscasters. It features a cocktail party where attendees can mingle with ball players and a separate dinner and live auction of rare autographed sports and music industry memorabilia. Brooks, who no longer performs in public, will perform live with his wife, Trisha Yearwood.
The fact that Brooks' memorabilia auction benefits charity makes it attractive to collectors. Athletes are often more willing to donate their personal trophies and memorabilia — prizes the average fan wouldn't dream that they'd part with — to benefit charity. And the collector gets to contribute to a cause, too.
Gunther has such prized items as one of Willie Mays' Golden Gloves, the award given to the best defensive players of the year, and Derek Jeter's and Roger Clemens' World Series rings. He has gloves signed by Johnny Bench and Cal Ripken.
Hitchcock, who also pitched for the New York Yankees, Seattle Mariners and St. Louis Cardinals, can't imagine an athlete could part with such things. He still has every one of the baseball cards he collected as a boy. And he thinks the memorabilia signing business has gotten a little out of hand.
As a player, at times he'd wonder, "Am I signing it for this kid or some guy who sent him over here so he can sell it on eBay?" he said.
The Internet has made buying and selling sports collectibles a much bigger business, both Hitchcock and Gunther agree.
Gunther buys many of his items through specialty online auctions — but not eBay. It's allowed him to find rare items and target his collections.
He's collected 133, all but five in the set, of Louisville Slugger World Series black bats with each bat bearing the signatures of the winning or losing team. He also has a complete collection of Louisville Slugger red bats that depict signatures of each year's Hall of Fame inductees. The bats are Gunther's almanac, so to speak, and transport him on a walk through baseball history.
For all his signed items, Gunther does have a favorite. On the handle of his 1961 bat, signed by both Maris and Mantle, during the year both men were chasing Ruth's single-season home run record, are the scrawled pencil markings of a child, Gunther's granddaughter, Allison. The markings, a "look Grandpa" moment when she was 6 or 7, instantly devalued the bat. But Gunther can chuckle about it. It's no less precious to him.
Beyond baseball, he has basketballs signed by Wilt Chamberlain and Michael Jordan, and boxing gloves signed by Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier.
But it's baseball that Gunther loves. He remembers, as a small boy, eating hot dogs and marveling at the deep green hue of the grass at the St. Louis Cardinals games he went to with his father.
"When I think back on my life when I was a really little boy, baseball made a big impact on my life," Gunther said.
He loves finding and preserving the history of the game.
© 2005 Bonita Daily News and The Banner. Published in Bonita Springs, Florida, USA by the E.W. Scripps Co.
http://www.bonitanews.com/news/2006/jan/23/dream_collection/?local_news
Sports memorabilia collector eyes coveted lot -- trip to auction with retired pitcher
By Gina Edwards
Monday, January 23, 2006
In his ultra-masculine wood-paneled Naples hideaway, Don Gunther chokes up on a Joe DiMaggio bat with all the boy-like wonder of an 8-year-old.
Mementos of sports' greatest legends overwhelm the room. They are pieces of history, and they are his. Hundreds of bats, signed by greats such as Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris, hang in glass-paneled cabinets and in custom racks that double as pub tables.
On a counter behind the bar is a pyramid of baseballs in protective acrylic cubes. At the top is a much-coveted single-signed Babe Ruth ball. Gunther has a single-signed Honus Wagner ball, a Ty Cobb, a Walter Johnson, a Christy Mathewson — the entire first class of the Hall of Fame in 1936.
There's not much that Gunther, a retired executive from construction giant Bechtel, doesn't have in the way of sports memorabilia.
That's why lot No. 44 up for grabs at Saturday's Naples Winter Wine Festival charity auction has him intrigued.
Another Neapolitan, retired San Diego Padres pitcher Sterling Hitchcock, has offered to escort the winning lot bidder to a super-exclusive Las Vegas sports memorabilia auction that's only open to baseball players and their guests.
"You know what you want," said Gunther, who, like most collectors, enjoys the thrill of the hunt. But, he added, "the gaps you have are harder to fill."
The Vegas auction trip might be a chance for Gunther to find some rare and unique stuff. But who is to say Gunther won't get bested at Saturday's wine festival auction by another sports junkie in attendance?
As auction organizers know, it only takes two bidders to drive up a price. And wine festival organizers encourage the elite group of attendees to "bid high and bid often" at the auction that last year raised more than $12 million for Naples children's charities. In five years, the festival has collected more than $26 million to benefit Naples causes.
Gunther is a trustee of the Naples Winter Wine Festival and last year hosted one of 17 exclusive dinners in which auction-going guests got to feast on a meal prepared by celebrity chef Tyler Florence in Gunther's home.
You can bet he will be bidding again this year. Gunther loves mixing his passion for sports with his passion for charity.
"If God gave you the ability to make money in this world, you've got to give it back to the right places," said Gunther, who has donated hundreds of thousands to the Naples Winter Wine Festival over the years.
Prices at the auction fetch well beyond retail, with auction organizers pushing guests to engage in philanthropic one-upmanship.
Hitchcock, and his wife, Carrey, who have lived here with their two daughters for five years, attended their first Naples Winter Wine Festival last year.
"You hear so much about it. We went into it not wanting to like it because of the prices and the hubbub," said the 34-year-old Hitchcock. "But, man, it is fantastic."
Hitchcock, who retired from the Padres in 2004 after an elbow injury, admits to spending much money after too much wine on a magnum of Screaming Eagle cult Cabernet at last year's auction.
Up for grabs in Lot 44, "Home Run for Fun," is a trip for two to Las Vegas to Garth Brooks' Teammates for Kids Foundation charity event in January 2007. The event is only open to baseball players, their guests and a few celebrity sportscasters. It features a cocktail party where attendees can mingle with ball players and a separate dinner and live auction of rare autographed sports and music industry memorabilia. Brooks, who no longer performs in public, will perform live with his wife, Trisha Yearwood.
The fact that Brooks' memorabilia auction benefits charity makes it attractive to collectors. Athletes are often more willing to donate their personal trophies and memorabilia — prizes the average fan wouldn't dream that they'd part with — to benefit charity. And the collector gets to contribute to a cause, too.
Gunther has such prized items as one of Willie Mays' Golden Gloves, the award given to the best defensive players of the year, and Derek Jeter's and Roger Clemens' World Series rings. He has gloves signed by Johnny Bench and Cal Ripken.
Hitchcock, who also pitched for the New York Yankees, Seattle Mariners and St. Louis Cardinals, can't imagine an athlete could part with such things. He still has every one of the baseball cards he collected as a boy. And he thinks the memorabilia signing business has gotten a little out of hand.
As a player, at times he'd wonder, "Am I signing it for this kid or some guy who sent him over here so he can sell it on eBay?" he said.
The Internet has made buying and selling sports collectibles a much bigger business, both Hitchcock and Gunther agree.
Gunther buys many of his items through specialty online auctions — but not eBay. It's allowed him to find rare items and target his collections.
He's collected 133, all but five in the set, of Louisville Slugger World Series black bats with each bat bearing the signatures of the winning or losing team. He also has a complete collection of Louisville Slugger red bats that depict signatures of each year's Hall of Fame inductees. The bats are Gunther's almanac, so to speak, and transport him on a walk through baseball history.
For all his signed items, Gunther does have a favorite. On the handle of his 1961 bat, signed by both Maris and Mantle, during the year both men were chasing Ruth's single-season home run record, are the scrawled pencil markings of a child, Gunther's granddaughter, Allison. The markings, a "look Grandpa" moment when she was 6 or 7, instantly devalued the bat. But Gunther can chuckle about it. It's no less precious to him.
Beyond baseball, he has basketballs signed by Wilt Chamberlain and Michael Jordan, and boxing gloves signed by Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier.
But it's baseball that Gunther loves. He remembers, as a small boy, eating hot dogs and marveling at the deep green hue of the grass at the St. Louis Cardinals games he went to with his father.
"When I think back on my life when I was a really little boy, baseball made a big impact on my life," Gunther said.
He loves finding and preserving the history of the game.
© 2005 Bonita Daily News and The Banner. Published in Bonita Springs, Florida, USA by the E.W. Scripps Co.
http://www.bonitanews.com/news/2006/jan/23/dream_collection/?local_news