Bob Gibson Collection to be Sold at Auction

Bob Gibson has decided nearly 50 years is enough.

The Hall of Fame pitcher has decided to sell his personal collection through an agreement with Legendary Auctions, the company headed by former Mastro executive Doug Allen.

The Gibson collection will be part of a live auction in Cleveland during the week of the National Sports Collectors Convention.

"My agent Dick Zitzman confirmed this to be the definitive annual industry event and felt it would be a great way to share my keepsakes with collectors everywhere," said Gibson. "I felt comfortable with Doug and enjoyed hanging out with him and sharing a great meal together long after the business terms were discussed. I've hung on to this material for the better part of a half-century and need to trust the person and organization that would ultimately bring it to market."

"We went through an extensive diligence process to select the auction house that could maximize the exposure and ultimately the return on Bob's collection," said Dick Zitzman, President of Sport Classics, Inc. "At the end the choice was clear.”

Allen says that he, too, is excited about the opportunity to offer Gibson's collection. "You are talking about some of the most significant memorabilia attributed directly to one of the great pitchers of all time," says Allen. "The fact that none of these items has ever been available before, and that their provenance is rock-solid, makes it just that more incredible."

Gibson spent his entire baseball career with the Cardinals after a stellar athletic career at Creighton University, where he became a standout in college basketball and baseball in his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska. Although he received a $3,000 bonus when he signed with the Cardinals in 1957, Gibson delayed his start with the organization for a year. He opted instead to play with the Harlem Globetrotters, where he earned the nickname "Bullet" Bob Gibson. He left the Globetrotters in 1958 to play baseball, spending one year in the minors before becoming a full-time big leaguer in 1959. H Gibson retired from baseball in 1975 and was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1981. A few of his career accomplishments include being selected to the All-Century team, 1968 Most Valuable Player and Cy Young Award winner, and two World Series Championships (in 1964 and 1967).

Highlights of Gibson's personal collection that will be available
through Legendary Auctions include:

*1968 MVP Award
*1968 and 1970 Cy Young awards
*1964 and 1967 World Series rings
* Hall of Fame induction ring
*A complete compilation of all of Gibson's player contracts
*Game used ball from first major league victory
*A game used glove

A full list of Gibson items included in this Legendary Auctions live
summer sale event will be made available over the next couple of months.

In addition to making Gibson's historic collection the cornerstone of its live summer sale, Legendary Auctions will give collectors another reason to feel even better about bidding on the items. The event will serve to raise money for the Baseball Assistance Team (B.A.T.). The mission of this charity is to aid those members of the "baseball family" that are most in need. B.A.T. strives to provide a means of support for people who are unable to help themselves.

The auction is scheduled for Friday, July 31.

"We are pleased to select a worthwhile charity to benefit from this year's event," says Allen. "It was the natural choice, given Bob's involvement and passion for this organization. The Legendary Auctions live summer auction promises to be a spectacular industry event."