Posted by Sabrina B. @gametimegirl
Sammy Sosa’s corked bat struck out at auction.
Former Chicago Cubs pitcher Mike Remlinger put the broken barrel of the bat used by Sosa during his infamous game against the Tampa Bay Rays in 2003 up for auction.
But Remlinger had put a secret reserve on the bat that was not met by the Oct. 31 deadline, according to a story in the Chicago Tribune.
The CEO of Harry Caray’s Restaurant Group, Grant DePorter, had the highest bid at $14,407, according to the newspaper.
DePorter had used the secret bidder name of Charles Murphy, the name of the Cubs owner in 1908, the last time the Cubs won the World Series.
The bat, which shattered in two pieces when Sosa grounded out to second base in the first inning of the game on June 3, 2003, went on an online auction block through Schulte Auctions on Oct. 1, and the starting bid was $5,050.
“The next step is to offer [the bat] to the highest bidder or try to sell it privately,” Ray Schulte of Schulte Auctions said Monday, according to the Tribune. “Usually the owner takes a couple of days to think about it.”
Going into the auction, Remlinger thought the bat could fetch $15,000.
“There’s enough crazy Cubs fans out there that if somebody has a collection, be it Harry Caray’s Restaurant or one of the bigger bars in the area or just someone who has a personal collection, it’s definitely a great item to talk about,” Remlinger said Oct. 12 on “The Waddle & Silvy Show” on ESPN 1000.
Remlinger was in the bullpen when Sosa’s bat broke, exposing cork and earning Sosa an ejection and eventual suspension. He said he noticed the broken bat sticking out from beneath a bag on the floor of the tunnel between the dugout and clubhouse that day.
“I saw it there and figured the umpires and the league might be looking for it, and it wouldn’t be any help to him or our team if they found it so I picked it up and brought it into the clubhouse with me,” Remlinger said. “I had a fishing rod case in my locker, and I just put it in there and covered it up with a couple of towels and left it in there. It was there for the rest of the year until I brought it home.”
