UPDATE TO BELOW STORY......
This past Tuesday, Geddy Lee of Rush parted with more of his baseball memorabilia at an auction in Arlington, Texas held in conjunction with Major League Baseball's All-Star Game that night in the Dallas suburb.
66 of the 81 lots were sold for a total of $180,168, with the big seller being one of two baseballs signed by President John F. Kennedy.
It went for $45,000, but the other one, which had a high bid of $70,000, failed to sell. (In December, his other ball signed by Kennedy went for $138,600, and one signed by Kennedy and his Vice President, Lyndon Johnson, sold for $170,100.) And another signed by President Herbert Hoover on April 17th, 1929 sold Tuesday for $10,000.
The other big seller Tuesday was the final out ball from Game Seven of the 1982 World Series won by the St. Louis Cardinals. It was signed by Cardinals relief pitcher Bruce Sutter who recorded the out.
We spoke to Geddy on Tuesday morning, just before the auction, and he told us he decided to start parting with some items because he hadn't added anything to his collection in quite a number of years.
And as for deciding what to sell and what to keep, he said it comes down to "anything that had personal significance to [him]."
You can learn more about his obsession in a new book he’s written, 72 Stories from the Collection of Geddy Lee. Those who bought items in this week's auction will get a copy, but he tells us he plans to publish it soon.
ALSO, IN OTHER GEDDY AND ALEX-RELATED NEWS.....
The first-ever solo albums of Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee are going to be re-issued! Lifeson’s 1996 album ”Victor” and “Lee’s” 2000 album ”My Favourite Headache” are set to come out, again, on August 9th. They’ll both be available in a variety of formats, including on CD and vinyl. Victor will also feature four instrumental tracks that were previously exclusive to Lifeson’s website. But that's not all...Lifesone will also be autographing 1-thousand lithographs that will be included with the Ruby Translucent 2-LP vinyl offering, only available through purchase on the Rush Backstage web store.
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Last December, Geddy Lee auctioned off 491 lots of baseball memorabilia for $6.9 million. Well, now he's decided to part with 85 more lots.
Tomorrow, in conjunction with Hunt Auctions, he's selling some of his U.S. Presidential signed baseballs, some of which were thrown out for the ceremonial first pitch. These include Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy.
In December, his other ball signed by Kennedy went for $138,600, and one signed by Kennedy and his Vice President, Lyndon Johnson, sold for $170,100.
Also up for bids are balls signed by Major League Players such as Alex Rodriguez, Greg Maddux, Roger Clemens, George Brett, and 12 members of the 500 home run club including Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams, Hank Aaron and Reggie Jackson.
Each lot will be accompanied by appropriate documentation of same. A select number of Geddy’s favorite items are featured within a forthcoming limited edition book, 72 Stories from the Collection of Geddy Lee and are noted as such in their respective auction catalog descriptions. For those noted, the winning bidders will receive a copy of the book signed by Geddy.
You can bid online now with the auction taking place tomorrow at E-Sports Stadium within the Capital One MLB All-Star Game Village in Arlington, Texas. The All-Star Game is that tomorrow night in Arlington.
Geddy grew up a baseball fan, but he became enamored with the game while on tour with Rush in the mid-'70s when all that was on TV during the day were either soap operas or baseball games.
As for collecting, he says that started one day in Kansas City.
Check out the original post about here courtesy of Geddy's Official Instagram.