The second most valuable piece of sports memorabilia ever sold gets network TV treatment this week. James Naismith’s original “Rules of Basket Ball” will be featured on Fox Business Network’s Strange Inheritance. The original rules crafted by Naismith sold for $4.3 million in 2010. They had been handed down through his family. Naismith’s heirs will tell … [Read more...]
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1908 Basketball Photo Offers Glimpse of the Early Game
One of the earliest known “action” photos of the game of basketball has hit the auction block. Taken just 17 years after James A. Naismith had invented the game while teaching physical education in Springfield, MA, the 5x7 photo shows a group of Columbia University students standing around the basket as another player attempts to shoot what is presumably a warm up free … [Read more...]
‘Laws of Baseball’ Documents Sold for $3.26 Million
Like a heavyweight prize fight, online bidders were trading blow for blow in hot pursuit of the historical 1857 “Laws of Base Ball” documents in SCP Auctions’ 2016 Spring Premier auction, which concluded early Sunday morning. Once the dust had settled, an eye-popping high bid of $3,263,246, including a 20% buyer's premium, secured the documents. On Friday morning, the high … [Read more...]
Auction Just Part of Basketball’s 125th Anniversary Party
On December 21, 1891, a physical education instructor named James Naismith introduced a new game to a class of young men in an otherwise unremarkable gymnasium at the YMCA International Training School in Springfield, Mass. The objective of this game seemed simple; throw a round ball into a round basket tacked to a balcony 10 feet above the floor. The pace of the game was slow … [Read more...]
Not Horsin’ Around: Seabiscuit Items Sell for Nearly $200,000
A saddle used by jockey Red Pollard when he rode the legendary racehorse Seabiscuit, sold for $104,260 in the recently completed Lelands.com auction. Lelands also sold horseshoes worn by Seabiscuit during his famed 1940 Santa Anita Handicap win for $35,311. The complete 28-lot collection of Seabiscuit memorabilia offered in the auction brought total prices realized of nearly … [Read more...]
Upper Deck Releases Kansas Basketball Set
They're not promising you'll want to yell 'Rock, Chalk, Jayhawk' while opening the packs, but Upper Deck has released its latest collection of single school sports cards. This one focuses on one of the NCAA’s most storied basketball programs. The 2013 Upper Deck Kansas basketball set includes autographed cards from standout players and coaches and special inserts commemorating … [Read more...]
James Naismith’s Original Basketball Rules
In December 1891, a two-page typed document comprising a set of 13 rules to a new game was tacked up in a Springfield, Massachusetts YMCA gym – and “Basket Ball” was born. The game was the invention of a 30-year old physical educator teacher named James Naismith, created to entertain a restless class of students during the winter months. The rules were was given by James … [Read more...]
