OT: Your one piece of prized sports memorabilia

[Jaydumo20]

Maybe it's a Topps rookie from when you were a kid. Or a signed football. Or a starting lineup figurine. Or a signed scorecard that you pestered Sergio Garcia to autograph after beating him to the tee box on every hole.

Whatever it is, post your picture.
It doesnt have to be of high montetary value. Even if you no longer know where the item is amongst the junk in your parents attic, you can find a Pic off the internet. Like I did for mine:

 

[Jaydumo20]

 

[Kemba'sYogurt]

Got a team USA signed basketball from a World Cup a few years ago.
Gregg Popovich, Steve Kerr, and Jay Wright signed it, along with the rest of the roster.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

My favorite, and I have several, is my baseball signed by the entire 1965 Yankees, including Johnny Keane. My dad got it for me at Yankee Stadium in a game we went to see, I was 10 at the time, it was a game between the Yanks and the White Sox. Sox won 8-4.

 

[cullaville]

Ticket stubs from 1912 and 1913 World Series from my grandfather and my stub from 1986 World Series Game Six.

 

[StllH8L8ner]

Mickey Mantle signed baseball.

Michael Jordan’s Fleer rookie card. (I had three of them but traded two of them away when I was a kid. What an idiot…)

 

[Deepster]

My Dad took me to a Sox game in 1975. I was 9. After the game, at a stop light, Luis Tiant pulled alongside us in a gold Cadillac. My Dad scrambled to get something for him to sign and the light turned green. Luis reached down, picked up a ball and tossed it to him through the windows. The ball was signed by that whole 1975 team. Evans, Rice, Lynn, Yaz, Tiant, Bill Lee, Zimmer, Fisk, Petrocelli. I don't display it because it was signed in ball point pen and faded a little, so it's tucked away in a box somewhere.

 

[nomar]

My grandfather ran into the Splendid Splinter at New China Restaurant in New Haven in the 80s (I think Williams was friends with the Yale baseball coach) and got for me a note that said:

"Dear Josh
Your pal,
Ted Williams"

Not much meat there but he said he was my pal!

It was in the corner of my mirror for years until one day I came from college and it was gone. At some point someone will renovate that house and find that note stuck behind some drawer.

 

[boog204]

Not much of a memorabilia guy so mine are purely sentimental.

#1 My dad caught a foul ball at an Orioles game in the 70s hit by Al Bumbry. I always thought it was just the coolest thing that he caught a foul ball. I have been to many games since and have never even come close.

#2 As a little kid I went to a couple Sox games and we got autographs from a few players on the opposing team (my fam are Yankee fans). In particular, Dusty Baker, who was playing for Oakland at the time, and Harold Reynolds (Mariners) were next level cool with Reynolds even coming back to give me a few sticks of gum. I had absolutely no idea who either of them were prior, but that experience as 6-7 year old, made me follow their careers. Anyway, the book that they signed has always been a keeper for me.

 

[husky8273]

Tom Seaver signed Mr. Met card; Frank Gifford "to [me], a future Giant" signed dinner program; 2014 UConn joint men & women's pre-season poster signed by both teams; had 2 Yogi Berra signed baseballs but donated to a charitable fundraiser

 

[Castlevania]

This Jeter photo my grandmother had signed by Derek during the 1999 World Series. It's funny because I'm a Mets fan!

 

[Bezzz]

Letter from Yankee scout Paul Krichell (who signed Lou Gehrig) to my Dad upon his release from the Navy after WWII.

 

[StllH8L8ner]

My grandfather ran into the Splendid Splinter at New China Restaurant in New Haven in the 80s (I think Williams was friends with the Yale baseball coach) and got for me a note that said:

"Dear Josh
Your pal,
Ted Williams"

Not much meat there but he said he was my pal!

It was in the corner of my mirror for years until one day I came from college and it was gone. At some point someone will renovate that house and find that note stuck behind some drawer.

 

[superjohn]

It's not memorabilia but my picture with OJ will always mean the world to me.

 

[nomar]

View attachment 100698

Suddenly I'm in the mood for a Fresca

 

[AZHuskiePop]

My 1999 Championship sweat Shirt which I claim was one of the first if not the first one sold.
We still had two land lines in the final seconds of that game
I was dialing my son AZHuskie to just scream in the phone while my wife was on the other line ordering a shirt from QVC .

 

[AreBee1969]

Autographed jersey from 1983 New York Islanders is my most prized.

This poster signed by the 2020 women’s team and the UConn members of the USA Basketball team is pretty high up there too. My daughter got picked to meet them all and they signed right in front of her.

 

[Horatio]

OJ Simpson and Marcus Allen came to Hartford for a youth outreach event. I got a picture with them and they autographed the program with their pictures on it. About 1983.

I have an 1984 invite letter to participate in a recruits football camp at Syracuse, signed by Coach Dick Macpherson. Blew my knee out right after I registered for the camp. I show my family, friends, and kids the letter just to let them know that I had a mild sniff of almost playing big time , D1 football. Lol.

 

[geordi]

In 1999, I asked Jim Calhoun for an autographed basketball to display at a local watering hole. Several weeks later we were planning on a trip to St. Pete for the Final Four after we had won the regional. The morning that we were packing the car, the ball arrived. I tossed it into the trunk; proceeded to drive down to Florida. I love that ball, the whole team signed it, of course. After the game, 77-74, I probably could have sold it at one of the various parties down there for $5,000.

 

[AzHusky]

This is my 2011 Stanley Cup wall.

 

[cullaville]

Letter from Yankee scout Paul Krichell (who signed Lou Gehrig) to my Dad upon his release from the Navy after WWII.
View attachment 100696

Thanks to your Dad for his service

 

[AidanFan20]

My most-important-to-me "piece" of memorabilia is a memory of an experience, not a physical object.

Gotta go into the Wayback Machine... (Long story, btw)

It starts with my having watched Jason Kidd play in-person MANY times at his high school (St. Joe's, Alameda, CA), including his very first game as a freshman. For that game, a few people going in had heard about this freshman who was supposed to be fantastic, but the real draw was Calvin Byrd, a 6'5" All-American senior who had signed with Villanova. He was the subject of all the talk as we went in... Jason was ALL the talk leaving the game!

I saw some 70 Jason games in person over the next 4 seasons, the last two of which tiny St. Joe's won the Division 1 State Championship. During that time, I had talked to him a little bit here and there, but not much...

So he went on to Cal-Berzerkeley, where he starred for two seasons before he entered the NBA Draft, where he was grabbed by Dallas.

That December, I moved to Portland, and happened to see that Dallas was coming to play the Blazers in just a couple of weeks. I went to Ticketmaster and luckily landed a ticket on the baseline, just four rows up.

So, I decided to do what the autograph seekers do, showing up at the back entrance WAY early. While waiting for the door to open, a bunch of kids with programs, pens, etc. showed up... They looked at me (age 37 at the time, and without anything to sign), and one asked, "What are YOU doing here, old man?".

I told the gang that I had watched Jason play tons of times at his high school and just wanted to say hi to him, congratulate for making the League, etc.

Of course, the kids didn't believe me, laughed in my face... I insisted, said I'd even talked to him a little...

One of the kids asked, "Okay, you think he'll know you?"

I answered, "Maybe, maybe not. It's been a couple years and he's met a lot of people since I talked to him."

This back and forth went on until the doors opened... Everyone rushed to the corner of the floor where the players leave the locker room, and I joined them.

Eventually, the players started coming out, Jason being the obvious center of the autograph hounds, all reaching out and trying to get J's attention and sign their goodies. Jason shuffled along, signing without saying much, hardly looking at what he was signing.

Finally Jason got to where I was. I just stuck my hand out for a shake, and said, "Hey, how you liking the bigtime!?"

Jason saw my hand, heard my voice... He looked up, and with a look of surprise, blurted out, "Hey! What are YOU doing here?"

I told him I had just moved, ran across a ticket, and came to see him play... We exchanged some small talk for like 2 or 3 minutes before he said, Okay, I gotta go get ready," and jogged to the bench.


Okay, that was the set-up, now HERE is the memory!

I turned and started back into the main arena... and there were all these kids with eyes VERY vide and obvious shock on their faces!

I think one said something to the effect of "Man! You REALLY know Jason Kidd!! OMG!!"

I could have pushed the front kid lightly in the chest and watched 'em all fall like bowling pins (I didn't).

Anyway, to me that sort of memory beats ANY autograph or pic...

 

[2ndFlBelden]

Autograph from Muhamad Ali, went to a charity dinner at the Waldorf Astoria with my dad. I got Herb Brooks, Brian Trottier's autographs, but missed Muhamad Ali's during the dinner. We stayed at the hotel, and went to the elevator, the door was closing, but my dad held it open and in walked the Greatest, and I got to talk to him for few floors and got his Autograph. Around 1981.

 

[August_West]

Eddie Giacomin's Sherwood Goalie stick. Signed.
Vic Hadfields Sherwood stick, signed by himself, Rod Gilbert and Jean Ratelle (the G.A.G. line!)

Both given to me personally by the above on a magical day when I was 5 years old when my dad took me into the Rangers locker room at MSG post Rangers/Blackhawks game.

 

[NowInStorrs]

Pretty recent one but I'm quite fond of my piece of Gampel mini court