By ERIC C. RODENBERG
Antique Week Correspondent

KNIGHTSTOWN, Ind. — In the frigid Midwest, December thoughts just naturally turn to basketball. And for Hoosiers, nothing says basketball like the gymnasium which was used for much of the filming of the 1986 movie Hoosiers. The gym was the perfect venue for the experts from Grey Flannel Auctions to host a sports memorabilia appraisal event.

This arena, virtually unchanged since the 1950s, seats a little less than 670 fans. There’s not a bad seat in the house. On Dec. 5-6, the old gymnasium was once again receiving fans, most of them carrying sporting relics of the past. And these relics were not limited to basketball. There were signed baseballs, baseball scorecards, ticket stubs and nearly any other kind of vintage sporting equipment and memorabilia.

“Yeah, this is an amazing little gym,” Michael Russek, director of Grey Flannel operations, said.

But, Russek and his colleagues, were pleased with their efforts “out beating the bushes” for special finds from the Midwest.

This is the second on-the-road appraisal conducted by Grey Flannel, the first one taking place at the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.

“We had a lot of Ted Williams stuff, and a lot more baseball-related things from there,” Russek says. “Out here, things were a little wider spread. We had a lot of Purdue-Indiana stuff, a lot of ticket stubs, and some really good stuff.”

One of the finer items, which the company plans to put up for its next auction in early May, is a signed baseball from the 1949 Brooklyn Dodgers.

“This came in from Indianapolis,” Russek said. “It worked it’s way down through two generations.”

He valued the ball, at auction, at $1,500-3,000. The signed ball has several things going for it, according to Russek. The 1949 Dodgers were a particularly good team, holding off the St. Louis Cardinals to win the National League title by one game. In a subway classic, they lost the World Series to the cross-town Yankees in five games.

Led by Pee Wee Reese, Jackie Robinson and Gil Hodges in the infield, Duke Snider in center field, Roy Campanella behind the plate, and Don Newcombe on the pitcher’s mound, the 1949 Dodgers were in the mid-process of building a National League dynasty.

Also having the signature of pioneering black baseball player Robinson, who won the National League MVP that year, does not hurt the value of the ball, according to Russek.

The team was also subject of one of the seminal – and most lyrical – books of sporting, The Boys of Summer by sportswriter Roger Kahn.

Another intriguing piece of baseball history was a roster, signed “Roger Maras” who in 1961 as a member of the Yankees “Murderers Row” broke the 34-year-old season home run record of Babe Ruth.

“It’s a very rare signature,” Russek said. “Maris later changed his name from Maras to Maris … this was one of his earlier signatures, back when he was playing bush league ball.”

From an earlier era, the Babe himself could hardly be denied an appearance at the old Hoosier gymnasium. The advertising flyer from Fro-Joy Ice Cream shared  practical baseball tips on hitting and fielding.

The experts at Grey Flannel predicted the item would bring $1,000-2,000 at auction.

Another one of the finer “walk-ins” was a local discovery – two blue and white signs advertising a 1902 Indiana-Purdue baseball game. They appeared to be hand painted.

“It was one of our favorite pieces,” Russek said. “A couple found it in their grandfather’s attic, right here in Knightstown. That’s one of the purposes for coming out here, to tell people what they find in their attics, in their basements, may be valuable. A lot of people don’t know that.”

Although Russek demurs from calling sporting memorabilia and collectibles “bulletproof” from economic concerns outside its specific market, he maintains sports items are holding up well.
“I don’t believe we’re immune to the economy,” he says. “But, absolutely, these pieces can bring the money … the scarcer the item, and the better the quality, the bigger the price.”

And there are some pieces that well-heeled collectors don’t care how much they have to spend to possess.

Russek – and Grey Flannel – have experienced those moments. In late 2004, the company sold a jersey purportedly worn by the Babe when he belted the “called shot” against the Chicago Cubs in the 1932 World Series. Still considered the jersey “on top of the pile,” the item sold for $1.1 million.

“That’s what we’re doing out here … looking for another Babe Ruth uniform,” Russek says. “Beating the bushes … yeah that’s a good description of what we’re doing.”