It was scheduled to end Thursday night, but the phone kept ringing. Past midnight, through the wee hours of the morning, beyond breakfast, past lunch and after dinner. Finally, MEARS officials decided that the fun had to end. 7 p.m. New Year’s Eve would be the official end of the company’s latest auction. When it was over, new records were set for the Milwaukee-based company, paced by the sale of a 1920s autographed Ty Cobb game used bat. Signed by Cobb while he and his Detroit Tigers were on their way to Boston by train in 1925, the bat sold for $113,303.75. According to MEARS’ Troy Kinunen, it is a record price for a Cobb bat, with the previous record being $95,620 for a model Cobb once presented to fellow big leaguer Joe Sewell. The December MEARS 2010 auction realized $432,457. For the year, MEARS auctions generated a total of $1,560,000. View the complete auction results here. Read full story on Sports Collectors Daily.
