MyTURN
Sold-Off
Memorabilia Casts
a Solemn Shadow
omeone once told a media
pal that he didn’t respect me
as much as he did my friend
because I wrote too many
positive things about him, that
I was too sentimental for his liking.
Well, that guy would really hate what’s
coming the next few hundred words. I’m
profoundly saddened by players and their
companions, employees, entourages—family
members—selling off tons of memorabilia.
And don’t kid yourself: the dough can
be substantial. According to Golfweek, in
2011, the personal green jacket of Augusta
National co-founder and legend Bobby
Jones sold for $310,700. Doug Ford’s 1957
green jacket fetched $62,967, and Art Wall’s
1959 jacket went for $61,452.55.
The jacket awarded retroactively to Horton
Smith, the 1934 and 1936 Masters champion,
was purchased by an anonymous buyer at
auction for $682,229. That’s believed to be the
highest price ever paid for golf memorabilia.
Sam Snead’s claret jug from the 1946
British Open was the crown jewel of an
extensive collection of memorabilia offered
by his family. It sold for $262,900, or, as Golf
Channel’s Jason Sobel pointed out, $262,300
more than Slammin’ Sammy earned
for winning it in the first place. All told,
14 featured lots of Snead memorabilia fetched
$1.1 million at a Chicago sports auction.
In 2002, Gary Player put up his entire
collection of golf memorabilia—nearly
300 items, including his first green jacket
and medals from the four majors. He said
it was to fund his family’s future and to
support a school he runs in South Africa (also
sponsored by Lexus and SuperSport World
of Champions).
But let’s be fair here. A lot of living players
TOP LEFT: The claret jug from Sam Snead’s only
British Open victory in 1956 was part of his collection
auctioned off this summer in Chicago.
40
are getting the shaft. On one website alone,
you can buy 646 different Jack Nicklaus items,
599 Arnold Palmer items, 300 Tiger Woods
bits and pieces, 97 Natalie Gulbis collectibles
and 65 Annika Sorenstam pieces—and that’s
a very partial listing.
After reviewing some of those items, the
odds are overwhelming that they were signed
during those autograph frenzies that happen
at every PGA T or LPGA T event. In
our
our
this case, players are damned if they do sign,
damned if they don’t.
Recently, I stumbled across an item where
a tour caddie is selling off “a huge PGA T
our
vintage collection,” including 43 golf bags
used and owned by players. As an example,
said caddie just dropped the price on his
Nicklaus-autographed bag by $25,000—to
$150,000.
As far as I’m concerned, all of this is the
definition of a lose-lose situation—other
than financially for the sellers, of course,
which is what those who disagree with me
would argue.
And I’m sure there are some extenuating
circumstances. Al Geiberger auctioned off
the clubs with which he shot his famous
59 at the 1977 Danny Thomas Memphis
Classic because, he said, he needed to
augment a PGA Tour pension that comes to
“a whopping $128 a month.”
Otherwise, to me, players who flea-market
their treasures are hypocrites. Forever, we’ve
heard them ramble on about playing for the
glory, the claret jugs and the green jackets. It
all rings pretty hollow now considering these
circumstances.
The families of the players peddling these
wares come off looking like mercenaries who
don’t value or respect the achievements of
their kinfolk.
To the people who spend outlandish
amounts of money for representations of
someone else’s accomplishments, a question:
Aren’t your own lives and achievements
VIRGINIA GOLFER | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013
satisfying enough that you feel compelled to
lease the glory of someone you likely never
even knew?
The person who bought Horton Smith’s
green jacket said that one of the reasons he
did it was the thrill of potentially helping
“determine the future of such an important
part of Masters history.”
Without knowing your identity—you
insisted on anonymity—what gives you
that right?
The biggest losers, of course, are the
tournaments that fall all over themselves
lavishing players with a trinket for this, a
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