More than 25 'rookies' retailers to the Hawaii Trade Conference are not taking the ideas learned at the event and implementing them in their stores.

The nation’s economic picture is still a major concern to all levels of the sports collectibles industry, but that did not prevent the majority of attendees of this year’s Hawaii Trade Conference/Mainland Edition from leaving Phoenix with a good feeling about where the short-term future of the industry is headed.

Memory Lane’s Spring Fever Rarities auction ends May 17, and it’s loaded with high-grade, low-population report singles that have almost become the company’s slogan.

But that’s definitely not all Memory Lane offers.

Leading the way is a single-signed Babe Ruth ball. The ball comes from Dr. Carvel Lincoln and was acquired in August 1947 by the 16-year-old pitcher as a member of his local American Legion Baseball team. After more than 60 years of storage in the original box, the ball hits the auction world for the first time. It’s been graded PSA/DNA 8. Collectors can visit
www.memorylaneinc.com to hear the complete story in more detail. The Ruth ball carries a minimum bid of $10,000.

More than 200 lots of game-used jerseys, hats, helmets, bats and other items are featured in Game Used Universe’s (GUU) Spring 2008 auction. Specializing in game-used memorabilia, GUU developed its “Next Generation Auction” format, which elevates the authentication process to a new standard while virtually eliminating the possibility of a non-authentic item reaching the collector.

Featured in GUU’s current auction, which closes on May 8, 2008, is a wide variety of unique and high-quality game-used memorabilia from every sport. Among the items included is a side-written, vault marked Lou Gehrig bat from 1931, which was manufactured to Gehrig’s specifications, used and approved by him and ultimately used as the template from which to manufacture the majority of his bats for the remainder of his career.

The Collector’s Showcase of America (CSA) set a single-day record attendance with more than 2,000 paid admissions on the Saturday portion of its recent show held in Chantilly, Va., on March 14-16. There was a whopping 25 football guests on Saturday, all of them either Pro Football Hall of Famers, Super Bowl winners or both. Although this show was light as far as baseball autograph guests, the football formula proved to be a successful, with the Miami Dolphins and Pittsburgh Steelers heading the list.

There were several members of the famed 1972 Dolphins squad at this show, including Mercury Morris, Garo Yepremian, Bob Kuechenberg, Paul Warfield and Earl Morrall (also a Steeler). There was a particular demand for Paul Warfield, and it was a great opportunity to see future Hall of Famer Kuechenberg. Dolphin Hall of Famer Dwight Stephenson was also in attendance.

Grey Flannel Auctions, known for bringing to auction some of the best game-worn jerseys on the market, will conduct an absentee/Internet auction closing May 14 that features 161 sports-related premier lots.
The lot expected to bring the most attention is the same uniform that made the basketball world stand up in 1976.

In January of that year, Julius “Dr. J” Erving brought the house down in the first-ever halftime slam dunk contest during the 1976 ABA All-Star Game. In that competition, Dr. J. – then with the New York Nets and the ABA’s top scorer – and Denver Nuggets rookie David Thompson put on a performance of a lifetime. Together with three other top dunkers, Erving and Thompson pulled out all the stops to wow the stunned crowd with their competitive jams and slams. Without a lot of fanfare, Erving was declared the contest’s winner.

When I left Iola on the morning of April 17 on my way to the Premier Collectible Conference and Exhibition in Rosemont, Ill., the last phone call I thought I’d receive was someone telling me that one of the hobby’s founding fathers of authentication was retiring from his passion of verifying game-used equipment.

Troy Kinunen, lead authenticator at MEARS, was the person on the line with me that day, and to my surprise, he told me that Dave Bushing has “had enough,” and that when I arrive at the show I should interview him to get his thoughts. So that’s exactly what I did.

The Boston Red Sox jersey secretly buried by a Red Sox fan under the new Yankee Stadium in a failed curse attempt sold Thursday for $175,100 in a charity auction through eBay.

The bid was the highest of 282 for the David Ortiz jersey, which the Yankees pulled out from beneath two feet of concrete earlier this month.

The Jimmy Fund, the cancer charity that sold the shirt, did not immediately reveal the name of the winning bidder.

Despite all of the economic woes being thrown at the public, including sports dealers and collectors, the Hawaii Trade Conference leaves attendees feeling upbeat heading into the rest of 2008 and beyond.