Weekly Market Report - May 17, 2006

A Fresh Look at Sports Collectibles News

In a story that's gained a TON of national media attention, Green Bay Packer legend Jerry Kramer's stolen Super Bowl ring has been returned to him after 25 years. The ring, originally lost/stolen on a United Airlines flight from Chicago to New York, surfaced when it was placed up for auction by Mastro Auctions, Inc. When Doug Allen, president and COO of Mastro Auctions, became aware of the situation, he immediately pulled the ring off the auction block (bidding had already reached $21,000).

After getting the ring back, Kramer decided to do something good for his fellow NFL alumni "I am auctioning my Super Bowl I Replica Ring right here on JerryKramer.com, using the funds raised to be the first in establishing a fund that will assist retired NFL players who are in need. The fund will provide financial assistance to those retired players who are disadvantaged or indigent due to the inadequate pension and disability compensation provided to older players by the league."

This is a great story and deserves every bit of attention it is getting. Since finding the initial article about it, Kramer has been popping up everywhere to promote the story and his new fund. The story made it on to ESPN.com's homepage and he's been interviewed on Cold Pizza and Jim Rome.

It's nice to see Mastro Auctions do the right thing in giving the ring back to Kramer. It's even nicer to see Kramer turning the positive attention into something positive for former NFL'ers who need the help. [read release]

At this rate who knows when Barry Bonds will actually hit his 715th career home run, passing Babe Ruth for number two on the all time list. One thing seems to be certain though - the lucky fan who catches the ball will probably be disappointed at how much coin they can fetch for it. Experts have the ball fetching anywhere from $25,000 to $1 million - a very broad range, and a far cry from the $2.7 million that Mark McGwire's single-season home run-record No. 70 got.

This shouldn't surprise anyone. There are two reasons why this ball won't come close to McGwire's - the insane number of memorable home run balls that have been hit over the past few years by Bonds, McGwire, and Sosa (remember when McGwire hit that we thought it would stand for 50 years) and the fact that everyone outside of SF hates Barry, either for being an ass or for taking steroids. [read article]

McFarlane Toys announced a trio of 2-packs that showcase some of the best players from the six Canadian NHL teams. The three packs are titled Captains Courageous (Mats Sundin vs. Daniel Alfredsson), The Battle of Alberta (Ryan Smythe vs. Miikka Kiprusoff ), and Unfinished Business (Markus Naslund vs. David Aebischer).

First off, can the names...they are stupid, especially "Captains Courageous."

Second, why does McFarlane make so many freaking Canadian hockey figures? Using the new Google Trends I figured it out pretty quickly. There are actually more searches for 'McFarlane Figure' in Canada than in the US (click on the regions tab to compare US and Canada)! Apparently there are some VERY loyal McFarlane collectors north of the border. [read article]