Crystal, top, purchased a glove made exclusively for Mickey Mantle in 1960

September 28, 1999
Web posted at: 12:36 a.m. EDT (0436 GMT)

In this story: Bidders pony up more than $14 million Glove signed by Mantle RELATED STORIES, SITES

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Actor and comedian Billy Crystal paid $239,000 at Sotheby's auction house Monday night for a 1960 Mickey Mantle glove made exclusively for the New York Yankee great by Rawlings.

The item was one of nearly 100,000 items from the Barry Halper Collection of Baseball Memorabilia, considered to be the largest, most comprehensive assemblage relating to baseball history ever to be sold at auction.

The items included in the auction span over 150 years and include what may be the first baseball ever. The auction began last Thursday.

GALLERY Bidders step up to the plate for some historic memorabilia     MESSAGE BOARD On sale: Baseball history

The total sales for the auction thus far exceed $14 million, according to Sotheby's officials. Other items sold Monday night include the 1956 Mickey Mantle Triple Crown award which sold for $211,500.

The evening's highlight was a collection of 15 rings representing all the World Series and American League Championships won by the Yankees during the tenure of then-Yankee owner Del Webb. That collection sold for $310,500 to a telephone bidder.

The rings -- 10 World Series rings, including the treasured 1953 and 1961 seasons, and five AL Championship rings -- are all 14 Karat gold, except for a 1949 World Series ring, which is 10K. Each ring has Dell Webb's name engraved inside the band.

The World Series rings each have an approximately 3/4 ct. diamond in the center. The AL Championship rings are decorated with several smaller diamonds, as well as rubies and sapphires.

The entire collection is enormous and includes such items as Ty Cobb's dentures and an autographed 1953 death threat letter to Mantle.

The auction continues through Wednesday with dozens of jerseys expected to sell Tuesday.

The Mantle glove purchased by Crystal has a classic deep-well pocket design with all original stitching that has frayed and broken in two places.

Mantle signed the back of the pocket with a black felt-tip pen, and Mantle's famed "7" appears on either side of the red Rawlings label on the wrist guard.

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