Baseball a hit for eBay
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January 12, 1999: 8:28 p.m. ET
McGwire home run ball fetches $2.7 million, eBay site receives 13 bids
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - In a joint live and online auction Tuesday coordinated by New York auction house Guernsey's and online auctioneer eBay Inc., Mark McGwire's record-breaking 70th home run ball fetched $2.7 million, the highest price ever paid for a sports memorabilia item.
Minutes later, the same unidentified phone bidder bought Sammy Sosa's 66th home run ball for $150,000, a spokesman for Guernsey's Auction House told CNN.
Several historical baseballs went on the block last week on eBay 's (EBAY) site, including balls hit by McGwire and Sammy Sosa during their chase last summer for the single-season home run record. Roger Maris held the previous record with 61 home runs, which he set in 1961.
The 755th home run of Hank Aaron's career was also on the auction block.
eBay received 13 bids on its site for McGwire's 70th home run ball, although the winning bid was lodged via telephone.
Though the site had not received a bid all last week, Steve Westly, eBay vice president of marketing and business development, said a number of people had requested a copy of the agreement, an indication that high-stakes bidders were gearing up for the live auction.
The winning bidder for McGwire's 70th home run ball paid a total $3.5 million with commissions. The previous record for an auctioned baseball was the $126,500 fetched last month for a ball hit by Babe Ruth, the first home run hit at Yankee Stadium.
Philip Ozersky, a St. Louis research scientist who retrieved McGwire's ball, will receive 80 to 90 percent of the $2.7 million.
eBay shares closed at 240-1/2, plunging 51 amid a widespread sell-off among Internet stocks.
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