Schott baseball memorabilia auction set for March

[Eric]

LATEST NEWS
Cincinnati Business Courier - 12:07 PM EST Monday
Schott baseball memorabilia auction set for March

[/URL]The late Marge Schott's collection of baseball memorabilia will be auctioned off March 31, three days before Cincinnati's Opening Day celebration launches the Reds' season. The auction will begin at 1 p.m. at the Starlite Ballroom, 5994 Linneman St., in Cincinnati.
Schott, who owned the Reds from 1984 to '99, amassed a collection of mainly Reds memorabilia. Her 1990 World Series championship trophy, uniforms worn by Pete Rose and Eric Davis, and a 1990 World Series baseball signed by the team will be among the items auctioned off. Other items on the auction block will include unopened packs of baseball cards, bats used in Reds games and original baseball artwork.
The auction is the second of three public auctions of items from the estate of Schott, who died in 2004. The sale is being conducted by [URL="http://www.bizjournals.com/search/bin/search?q=%22Cowan's%20Auctions%20Inc%22&t=cincinnati"]Cowan's Auctions Inc. (http://www.bizjournals.com/search/bin/search?t=cincinnati&am=cincinnati&q=%22%22&f=byline&am=120_days&r=20), and proceeds will go to the Marge and Charles J. Schott Foundation.
A list of sale items is online at www.cowanauctions.com (http://www.cowanauctions.com/). For information about the auction, call (513) 871-1670.

[trsent]

Wow, that is a huge amount of memorabilia they are auctioning off. I can't wait for them to post photos and descriptions for the items.

[Kid4hof03]

The Eric Davis uniforms will be interesting, can't wait to see more photos and descriptions.

Abe

[Eric]

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/bal-sp.schott26mar26,0,6115572.story?coll=bal-sports-headlines (http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/bal-sp.schott26mar26,0,6115572.story?coll=bal-sports-headlines) From the Baltimore Sun
Auction gives a glimpse of Schott

Variety of items will benefit charity of late, controversial Reds owner



By JOE KAY
Associated Press

March 26, 2006

CINCINNATI -- There are Cincinnati Reds uniforms and replica World Series trophies, autographed baseballs and leftover Beanie Babies, a Pete Rose jersey and thousands of packs of baseball cards.
There's an old Max Venable bat, resting on the table next to a Sal Butera model. Somehow, a Ray Fosse model got mixed into the lot, even though he never played for the Reds. There are old Christmas cards, as well as pictures and posters of Schottzie the dog.
Packs of 1990s-vintage Reds cards are stuffed in cardboard boxes, stacked several feet high. Nearby is a box full of videotapes, many of them unmarked.
That's only the beginning of this most unusual collection.
The baseball memorabilia -- perhaps "stuff" is a better description -- that Cincinnati owner Marge Schott accumulated through the years will be auctioned off Friday to benefit her charitable foundation. Thousands of items -- some valuable, many merely fanciful -- randomly were stored at her estate in suburban Indian Hill, Ohio, and her business office when she died in 2004.
Now, they're all up for bid.
"Marge was not a baseball collector in the true sense that she wanted to assemble a representative collection of things from the Cincinnati Reds," said Wes Cowan, founder of Cowan's Auctions in Cincinnati. "I think she was more of an accumulator and she was an opportunist.
"She had the opportunity as the owner of the Reds for nearly 15 years to grab stuff, and that's what she did."
The auction is one of three to liquidate Schott's belongings and raise money for Schott's foundation, which has donated millions of dollars to various religious, civic and charitable groups since 1965. It's also a chance to get an inside look at the woman who symbolized baseball's first professional franchise for 15 years.
"I don't want to diminish the collection at all, because there are some good things here," Cowan said. "But I think that people who are going to be interested in this collection are the people who remember Marge Schott. It's more of a reflection of the kind of person she was."
Schott was one of baseball's most approachable owners, signing autographs from her front-row seat behind the dugout. She also was one of its most controversial. Her use of racial and ethnic slurs drew suspensions and put baseball in an uncomfortable national spotlight.
During her reign, the Reds won the 1990 World Series, reached the NL Championship Series in 1995 and went through the trauma of Rose's lifetime ban for gambling in 1989.
There are hints of it all in the collection.
The most valuable items recall the glory days -- her two, 12-inch-tall replicas of the 1990 World Series trophy. The collection includes a Rose uniform from 1988, when the All-Star Game was held in Cincinnati. Rose was still managing then, a year before he was banned by commissioner Bart Giamatti.
Also up for bid: eight baseballs stamped with Giamatti's name and signed by Rose.
Schott kept a uniform from outfielder Eric Davis, the top player on the 1990 team. The No. 44 jersey represents another historical connection -- Schott got in trouble for referring to Davis and former outfielder Dave Parker with a racial slur.
There's a signed biography of Cincinnati Bengals founder Paul Brown, made out "To Marge Schott, with respect and admiration." And, a "Millie" the dog book from former first lady Barbara Bush, commemorating her visit during the 1990 Series.
There's a Kal Daniels bat -- Schott once flipped a coin to settle a contract dispute with the outfielder -- and bats from Terry Francona, Lloyd McClendon, Nick Esasky, Buddy Bell and Ron Oester. One Fosse model made it into Schott's collection -- he's the Cleveland Indians catcher who got bowled over by Rose during the 1970 All-Star Game in Cincinnati.
"There's no personal history that's attached to any of this," Cowan said. "Whatever personal history was attached to it went when Marge died."
Schott kept leftovers from the team's promotions. For instance, she saved thousands of packs of Reds baseball cards, including some from manager Lou Piniella's teams and some from Davey Johnson's teams.
Piniella led the Reds to their 1990 title. Johnson led them to their last playoff appearance, in 1995. Schott ran off both of them, part of her penchant for changing managers and general managers.
There are leftover Beanie Babies and bobbleheads and other promotional items that once took up space at Riverfront Stadium.
"I remember an office that had become a mini-storage room, where there was a lot of the leftover souvenir items and giveaway merchandise," former publicity director Jon Braude said. "She would be down there getting out some goodies to give to some kid that would stop by, or someone that she wanted to treat with a little Reds item. It was kind of her special storage area."
Not included are items on loan to the team's hall of fame and museum that could become part of its permanent collection -- the blue seat Schott occupied behind the dugout, her World Series ring, a World Series collar made specially for Schottzie.
Schott's personal belongings -- furniture and so forth -- raised about $200,000 at auction in December. Her late husband, Charles, had an art collection that is expected to raise between $2 million and $4 million at auction in June. Cowan will be happy if the baseball memorabilia brings $100,000. "The collection probably has a lot of sentimental value to people," Cowan said. "The people from Cincinnati and the region, I expect them to be all over this stuff because it was Marge's stuff."

[pietraynor]

I'll be making the 3hr trip Friday, should be a lot of fun! Will try to get some photos to share.

[suave1477]

Funny they mentioned Sal Butera, I met sal last season. His son ( Drew Butera ) plays for the Brooklyn Cyclones ( Mets Minor league team ) Him and his son were both very nice!!

Signed whatever you wanted!!!

[Eric]

Results for the Schott Auction can be found here

http://www.cowanauctions.com/past_sales_lots.asp?SaleId=80

[trsent]

Some prices were silly high, many seems low, but I wonder if they had spelled Barry Larkin's name right if they would have done better?

See lots: 96, 101, 163 & 174

[Eric]

Schott auction raises more than $165,000

Days before the Cincinnati Reds 2006 home opening game, more than 700 baseball fans and curiosity seekers packed the Starlite Ballroom today vying for the chance to own a piece of Red's history as the baseball memorabilia collection of former Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott was auctioned to raise money for her charitable foundation.
Cowan's Auctions founder Wes Cowan was thrilled with the auctions $167,911 total.OAS_AD('ArticleFlex_1');
"As promised, we sold every single one of the 442 lots -- nothing was held back. This was truly a once-in-a-lifetime event. Both the size of the crowd and the passion of the bidders were a testament to Cincinnati's love affair with Marge and with the Reds," Cowan said. "Cincinnati is definitely a baseball town".
Auction highlights (sale price including 15 percent buyer's premium):

1990 World Series Marge Schott personal trophy -- $18,400.

1990 World Series Marge Schott personal trophy -- $14,950.

Pete Rose bronze sculpture by John Petek -- $3,795.

Nine 1940s Reds watercolor portraits by Clem Boddington -- $3,450

Official 1988 Reds All-Star game uniform jersey from Pete Rose, white -- $2,875.

Marge Schott's 1988 All-Star game Lenox china dinner plates -- $2,415.

Johnny Bench bronze sculpture by Bob Seriver, titled 'The Catcher" --$2,185.

Game-used base commemorating 50th anniversary of Jackie Robinson's debut -- $2,070.

Johnny Bench bronze sculpture by Bob Seriver, titled "the catcher" -- $1,897.

1990 World Series folding chair -- $977.
While many of the auction buyers were local, Army Sgt. Robert Roellig came all the way from Iraq where he's been stationed for the past five months. Roellig arranged his leave to be in town for Reds opening day and attended the auction with hopes of purchasing Marge's 1999 World Series trophy and a Pete Rose autographed ball. While those items proved to be out of his price range, he was thrilled to win a silver 1995 Central Division Champion Proof Set for $287 and three old-timer autographed baseballs for $345.
Thousands of baseball items from Marge's personal collection were sold including Schott's personal 1990 World Series trophies; Cincinnati Reds uniforms including Pete Rose, Eric Davis and others; game used bats; more than 130 team signed baseballs (including some from the 1990 World Series); thousands of unopened packs of baseball cards; hundreds of presentation awards to Marge and the Reds; the original artwork for new Reds uniforms and 1988 All Star Game logo; other fine original baseball artwork, and a set of 1940s watercolor portraits of Reds players.
This is the second in a series of three public auctions managed by Cowan's Auctions Inc. to raise funds for The Marge and Charles J. Schott Foundation. Schott's household items were sold in December garnering nearly $200,000 for the Foundation.
The final Schott fine art auction, valued at $.5 million, is June 17.