Spring Premium Live and Catalog Auction Ending May 20(1-70) and June 3

This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/20/2017

Throughout the years, baseball players have been known to be the most superstitious athletes. Hall of Famer Wade Boggs would eat chicken before every game, Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. once sold his Mercedez-Benz because he believed it didn’t have any hits in it and one of former pitcher Turk Wendell’s superstitions was his love for the number “9”, to which he signed his 2000 contract for $9,999,999 and wore uniform number “99”.

The USA baseball team entered the 2017 World Baseball Classic having never won the tournament and its best finish being that of fourth place in the 2009 event and was in need of some luck. Before the start of the 2017 WBC, as Team USA was getting ready for the tournament, several players thought they should have an eagle mascot. Houston Astros and Team USA reliever Luke Gregerson’s father-in-law has a collection of eagle sculptures and statues and gifted the team this offered bald eagle statue. This 24-inch tall, 45-pound porcelain sculpture was the very “lucky charm” that accompanied Team USA around the country during their triumphant run to the WBC title.

The colors and detail of this sculpture are exquisite. The eagle is perched and its wings are extended with its head looking to the left. Varying brown colors the wings, torso and legs, while a white head and a bright yellow colored beak are captured in great detail of this sculpture. Team USA’s ritual was for every player to touch the bird prior to the start of each game for good luck and judging by the team’s record of 6-2, which included victories over Japan in the semi-finals and Puerto Rico in the championship game, the eagle served its purpose. The sculpture is in good condition but sustained a minor injury during the celebration, as a very small portion of one of the wings on the left side was accidentally chipped off during the celebration. 28 members of Team USA have signed their names on the white base portion of the eagle in fine-tip black marker. Signatures include: Luke Gregerson, Buster Posey, Ian Kinsler, David Robertson, Alan Trammell, Marcus Stroman, Mychal Givens, Josh Harrison, Giancarlo Stanton, Alex Bregman, Jonathan Lucroy, Tyler Clippard, Danny Duffy, Jake McGee, Christian Yelich, Andrew McCutchen, Pat Neshak, Nate Jones, Brandon Crawford and several others. This porcelain eagle comes with a LOA from Luke Gregerson and a full LOA from Steve Grad of Beckett Authentication. 100% of the high bid price will be donated to the St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital. St. Jude is leading the way the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases.