The 1964 Silver Bat Award presented to Roberto Clemente sold for $307,500 early Sunday, topping SCP Auctions’ Summer catalog sale.
The trophy bat is 34” long and made from 55.6 Troy ounces of sterling silver. It is modeled after the famed Louisville Slugger 125 professional model Clemente bat and came with a letter of provenance from the Clemente family. The barrel is inscribed “BATTING CHAMPION 1964 NATIONAL LEAGUE B.A. .339.”
The Pirates legend won the second of his four league batting titles in 1964 with a career best 211 hits. He’d finish his career with 3,000 before losing his life in a plane crash while attempting to bring earthquake relief supplies to Nicaragua on Dec. 31, 1972.
The only known autographed copy of the 1931 W517 Babe Ruth strip card also resulted in a bidding war before closing at $151,652.
A 1953 Topps Mickey Mantle graded PSA NM-MT 8 brought $91,151 and a 1954 Topps Hank Aaron rookie graded PSA NM-MT 8 sold for $37,610.
Other card-related lots sold included:
- 1963 Fleer Baseball Complete Set (67) Ranked #15 on PSA Set Registry – (all but two cards graded PSA MINT 9 with none below 8 — $26,701
- 1967 Topps Baseball Complete Set of (609) Including 172 graded examples — $25,686
- 1964 Topps Baseball Complete Set of (587) Including 38 graded cards — $20,724
On the game worn memorabilia side of the auction, a 1977-78 Julius Erving Philadelphia 76ers jersey graded MEARS A10 went for $33,378, a 1965 Pelé Brazil shirt brought $20,060, and a 1956 Melbourne Olympics track and field uniform worn by USA athlete Isabelle Daniels took in $19,540.
A Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio multi-signed circa 1920’s National League baseball with letters from PSA/DNA and JSA netted $20,035. A late addition to the auction, a 1920 Type 1 photo of Ruth swinging a bat during his first season with the Yankees landed at $9,113.
Among the championship jewelry offered, 1998 Yankees World Series championship ring presented to former player Clete Boyer brought $24,274, a 2015 Denver Broncos Super Bowl 50 ring sold for $20,035, and a 2009 Yankees World Series pendant took in $8,294.
Complete results can be found here.
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