Antiques Roadshow guest had baseball 'worth thousands' just lying in a drawer

An Antiques Roadshow guest revealed that a baseball said to have been signed by several notable players from the sport, had just been kept in a drawer in his home.

An episode of the US version of the show, which airs stateside on PBS, saw sports memorabilia specialist Philip Weiss share his valuation for two baseballs. The guest who brought them onto the show said he had inherited them.

As reported by the Express, the guest shared: "Well my dad loved baseball, how he got these balls, I don't have any idea but when he passed away, we the siblings were kind of divvying up his things, the balls were there and I said I'd take them."

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Curious about how they had been stored, Philip asked where they were kept, to which the guest admitted: "Oh they were in a sock drawer, a dresser drawer and I didn't think they were much of anything." Philip then revealed: "Well let's just say this is going to be a tale of two baseballs."

He pointed out: "The first baseball here on the right is really interesting because you see there's [a signature from] Babe Ruth right here on the sweet spot. And then when you flip it over to this side, right here, you have Lou Gehrig and then when you flip it over again, you have what I call the key signature. Not that it's the most important player but that's right here, Joe Girardi."

Philip, discussing the importance of the autograph, said: "Joe Girardi was the key signature as he only played on the Yankees for one year and by having him on the baseball, we're able to identify this as a 1927 Yankee baseball."

A guest on the Antiques Roadshow in the US brought a pair of baseballs to be valued in an episode
(Image: PBS)

He concluded with a historical note, saying: "The 1927 Yankees is arguably the best team in baseball history and obviously people will argue that but I personally think that could be true. You had Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig combining for an enormous amount of home runs, batting over 300 RBIs combined and the Yankees came first in the American League with 110 wins and swept the Pirates in the World Series."

The specialist then discussed the second baseball, which was reportedly a circa 1950s Milwaukee Braves ball said to have been signed by the likes Henry Aaron and other Hall of Famers. However, he soon disclosed: "Sadly, that ball is a stamp ball, not a signed ball. And the reason that I'm glad you brought it in, is because at the Roadshow, we see an enormous amount of stamp baseballs and it's a good kind of tool for us to show a stamp baseball at an appraisal like this.

"So people can realise what things to look for and find out that it's stamped. One of the key things you look for in a stamp ball is very often you see the signature going off into the stitching. You can't sign a baseball like that with a signature going off into the stitching. What happens is that it would be stamped onto the ball itself and they would fold it up and stitch it that way.

"The other thing you see on a stamped ball and don't see on most signed baseballs is that the signatures are going in different directions. What they try to do is squeeze as many signatures as they can."

The guest (left) spoke to sports memorabilia specialist Philip Weiss (right) in the episode
(Image: PBS)

He concluded that while the second ball might only fetch around $100, which is roughly around £80, it was the first baseball that captured his attention. Philip said: "This is a really, really good example of a 1927 Yankee baseball. It does have some wear on some of the panels but you have a fairly good Ruth signature and a really strong Gehrig signature.

"As a team ball signed by most of the players on it, you don't have one signature which is pretty important and that's Miller Huggins, the manager. I'll give you a conservative auction estimate. I would expect it to sell in the $15,000 to $25,000 [roughly £12,000 to £20,000] range. It could be more. Balls like this have sold for $40,000 to $50,000 [roughly £32,000 to £40,000] but based on the condition, I think that's a fair range to do it."

The guest responded: "Wow. A good spot for a sock drawer." Philip enquired: "Did you have it in the sock or was it just rolling around?" The guest admitted: "No, probably just rolling around." The specialist concluded: "Well, it's a nice sock drawer find and a good story about two baseballs."

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