Hunt Auctions Holds Glittery Event During Baseball’s All-Star Week In Los Angeles

It is one of the most famous baseball moments in the sport’s long history, when New York Giants lanky outfielder and third baseman Bobby Thomson socked a 0-1 Ralph Branca fastball into the Polo Grounds left field stands for a three-run home run that clinched the 1951 National League pennant.

“The Giants win the pennant!” sportscaster Russ Hodges screamed several times as Thomson rounded the bases before he leapt onto home plate and was mobbed by his Giants teammates, including Hall of Famer Willie Mays, who was on deck when Thomson connected for the “Shot Heard ‘Round the World.”

“If you’re a baseball fan or a Giants fan, it’s way up there,” says David Hunt, president of Hunt Auctions.

On Tuesday in Los Angeles — where the 2022 All-Star Game will be staged at Dodger Stadium — Hunt Auctions will hold a signature event at the L.A. Convention Center (and online): the 2022 All-Star Auction, featuring scores of sports memorabilia items, including the pair of cleats that Thomson was wearing when he swatted that ‘51 homer.

“One of those shoes touched home plate (at the Polo Grounds),” says Hunt, who has been in the memorabilia business for over 30 years. “It’s such a famous story, one of those moments that will be talked about even decades from now.”

Despite inflation fears and the tumult of the past two years, the memorabilia business continues to draw big spenders, and Hunt says prices for famous baseball artifacts “have done nothing but gone up” in value.

“What’s nice to see is the maturation of this industry,” says Hunt. “People are gaining a much better understanding of this memorabilia, especially the historic pieces, almost as an asset class. What’s nice is that (items) have gained traction in the general market place as being a phenomenal investment class.”

The upcoming auction will feature a sizable trove from the Stoneham family. Charles Stoneham and then his son, Horace, owned the Giants for a 57-year stretch (1919-76), a period that included the John McGraw managing tenure, and later, the Mays era and the club’s 1954 World Series title. Horace Stoneham famously moved the Giants west to San Francisco after the 1957 season. One of the other auction items is a 1972 Mays home and away Giants uniform.

Mays’ last season with the Giants was 1972 and he was traded to the Mets in early May that year.

“The Stoneham family collection is very prestigious and we feel honored to be part of that representation,” says Hunt. “From an authenticity standpoint, it’s ideal, it’s the pinnacle. What you want is that first primary source. I’ve never had a collection with that breadth of items.”

The authenticity element of the memorabilia business has been at the core of several past scandals within the industry. Bill Mastro of Mastro Auctions was indicted by a federal grand jury in 2012, and among the charges in the indictment were that Mastro altered the legendary Honus Wagner T206 trading card. In August 2015, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Illinois announced Mastro was sentenced to 20 months in federal prison for his role in a shill-bidding scam.

The industry has seen a recent surge in the modern card category, although Hunt says that segment has receded somewhat during the pandemic. The older baseball and sports artifacts, however, only continue to gain popularity and value.

Hunt Auctions partnered with renowned auction house Christie’s last fall for a baseball memorabilia event that resulted in excess of $15 million in sales. It’s a long way from the industry’s early roots of what Hunt calls a “mall show environment, with baseball card table shows. There’s nothing wrong with that. That’s where I started.”

“The key component of why we went into sports is I felt the potential growth for sports-related artifacts was much higher than a fine art category, or an obscure porcelain or furniture category,” adds Hunt. “There are so many more people that appreciate sports. We partnered with Christie’s and it was one of the most successful sales we’ve ever had. You walk down to 30 Rock Plaza and look up and there’s a 40-foot tall image of a Babe Ruth ball we’re selling. It fit right in with a Van Gogh painting next to it.”