Add Category
Sports fans are an unusual lot.
Many will do anything to get their hands on a piece of memorabilia — no matter what it is.
But while most pieces are pretty obvious — signed equipment, posters or cards — you do get some real doozies.
One such item is due to go on sale at British auction house Bonhams, the napkin on which 13-year-old Lionel Messi signed his first contract with Barcelona.
The 16.5cm by 16.5cm square napkin from Barcelona's Pompeia tennis club has a starting price of a whopping 300,000 British pounds ($579,500).
Sure, that's well below some of the other big-selling sports memorabilia pieces in recent years, such as the $US12.6 million ($19 million) paid for a mint edition 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle baseball card in 2022, the 7.1 million British pounds ($12.4 million) someone paid for Maradona's Hand of God shirt from the 1986 World Cup or even Shane Warne's $1million baggy green.
But it's still pretty substantial.
"This is one of the most thrilling items I have ever handled," Ian Ehling, head of Fine Books and Manuscripts at Bonhams, New York said in a press release.
"Yes, it's a paper napkin, but it's the famous napkin that was at the inception of Lionel Messi's career.
"It changed the life of Messi, the future of FC Barcelona, and was instrumental in giving some of the most glorious moments of football to billions of fans around the globe."
The napkin was signed in December 2000 when Carles Rexach, Barcelona's then-sporting director, agreed with Messi's father Jorge and agent Horacio Gaggioli to recruit the Argentine teenager from Rosario-based Newell's Old Boys.
It was an auspicious move for the Catalan giants — Messi went on to become the club's all-time top scorer, with 674 goals in 782 appearances in all competitions, winning 10 La Liga titles, four Champions League titles and three World Club Cup wins.
"In Barcelona, on 14 December 2000 and in the presence of Messrs Minguella and Horacio, Carles Rexach, FC Barcelona's sporting director, hereby agrees, under his responsibility and regardless of any dissenting opinions, to sign the player Lionel Messi, provided that we keep to the amounts agreed upon," is written in Spanish on the napkin in blue ink.
This napkin is undoubtedly momentous, as far as napkins go, so it is probably understandable that it commands such reverence from supporters.
It is, however, hard to say the same of other strange sport-tangential objects that have earned significant sums at auction.
Ty Cobb's dentures
One of baseball's greatest ever batters, Ty Cobb was a Detroit legend throughout the early 20th century.
One of America's first ever sporting stars, Cobb still holds numerous records that stand to this day.
Cobb was part of the Baseball Hall of Fame's inaugural class in 1936, along with other legends such as Babe Ruth.
That still doesn't explain why someone would pay $US18,840 ($28,700) for his teeth.
"Offered here is one of the most unique pieces of sports memorabilia you will find in the hobby: The Georgia Peach's personally used dentures," wrote SCP Auctions when listing the item in 2022.
"The upper and lower dentures come with Cobb's original plaster denture holder and brass opening device."
"This incredible, one-of-a-kind artefact has been preserved in immaculate condition since Cobb's death in 1961."
Barry Sanders signed a urinal
Perhaps odd memorabilia is a Detroit thing?
When the former home of the Detroit Lions NFL team, the Silverdome, was demolished, one fan figured he would buy one of the urinals.
I guess if you've got that kind of money to flush away, why not?
Not that it cost him much — just $US23 according to ESPN.
What added significantly to its value though, was the fact that legendary Lions running back Barry Sanders signed it.
The fan put the urinal on eBay and sold it for $3,000.
Luis Gonzalez's chewing gum
Hmmm, perhaps not.
In 2002, former Arizona slugger Luis Gonzalez hit a single in a spring training game in Tucson, Arizona against the Oakland A's and, as is a baseball player's want, spat out his gum as he progressed to first base.
A man in the crowd, Jason Gabbert, asked a security guard to hand him the piece of discarded gum, which he then put up for auction.
Amidst a swirl of publicity, that gum sold for a whopping $US10,000 according to ESPN.
Wary of it being a fake, the once bitten, twice shy sports memorabilia hunters questioned the gum's authenticity, until Gonzalez agreed to have the piece of gum tested for DNA.
"This thing has kind of gotten out of control," Gonzalez told AP during the auction period.
You're telling us…
Curt Schilling's bloody socks
When Boston lost the first three games of the 2004 American League Championship Series to the Yankees, it seemed like the Red Sox were destined for another year without a trip to the World Series.
However, the Red Sox won games four and five, before a heroic performance from ace pitcher Curt Schilling sent the series to a deciding game seven.
Schilling had torn a tendon sheath in his right ankle earlier in the play-offs and had no confidence in pitching on it due to the pain he was in.
So the Red Sox doctor stitched the area around the tendon to Schilling's skin to create more stability.
Blood oozed from the wound through his sock in one of the most iconic images in baseball history as the Red Sox pitched seven innings for just one run and four hits.
The Red Sox won the pennant and went on to beat the Cardinals to claim the World Series for the first time since 1918.
Iconic, for sure, but surely those socks were burned as items of medical waste should be. Right?
Nope.
They were, in fact, sold for a disgustingly large US$92,613 ($141,000).
Sports content to make you think... or allow you not to. A newsletter delivered each Friday.