Monday, February 24, 2014

Infamous Clemens-Piazza broken World Series bat gets $47,800 at auction

The broken bat that Roger Clemens infamously threw in the direction of Mike Piazza during the 2000 World Series was auctioned this weekend for $47,800.

The winning bidder asked to remain anonymous, a Heritage Auctions spokesman said Sunday. The auction house initially expected the bat to go for around $10,000, reports Newsday.

Former Yankees strength coach Jeff Mangold, who sold the Subway Series bat, said in an interview this month that he noticed immediately after that World Series Game 2 ended that Piazza's broken bat was headed for the trash and thought it was too meaningful to be thrown away.

So Mangold said he took it home and quietly displayed it in his office for 13 years.

He said the broken barrel of Piazza's Mizuno Pro bat still has the old Yankee Stadium dirt stuck in its end because, after Clemens threw it toward Piazza, the bat took a few bounces before getting stuck in the grass.



"I've had it for 13 years, mainly in the office here at the house," said Mangold of the memento. "It's time for it to move on."

Mangold was the strength coach for the Yankees from 1984-88 and again from 1998-2006, and for the Mets from 1993-96. He said he's done Google searches over the years to see if anyone ever wondered about the bat's whereabouts.

"There was no mention of it, just no mention of it at all," Mangold said of the symbolic piece of wood. "Just a handful of friends of mine know about it. I wasn't out to show it off or anything. It was just something that was known among our family. Very strange, for all these years, nobody ever mentioned. The Hall of Fame never inquired about it. No one did."

Amazing.


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