The Romance Writers of America conference was AMAZING! Not only did I get to sit in on and moderate incredible panels, I got to meet some of my favorite authors, too! And the literacy fundraiser was a complete success raising over $50,000 for three Orange County charities:  ProLiteracy Worldwide, Read OC, and Literacy Volunteers – Huntington Valley.

I’m a die-hard sports fan and got to meet Jaci Burton who pens the Play-By-Play series sports romance books for football, baseball, and hockey. Her newest football book, Playing to Win, comes out September 4^th.

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Babe Ruth’s Jersey, worn in 1920 when he was with the Yankees,  sold for $4.4 million dollars just the other day?  This set a record as the highest price paid for any item of sports memorabilia.  And it’s not just the Sultan of Swat’s jersey that has a heavy price tag; his home run balls, his bats and even his contracts command huge sums at auctions.

As long as we have had organized sports, we have had sports collectors.  Whether it’s a group of boys trading baseball cards or corporations bidding hundreds of thousands of dollars, for the privilege of owning a one of a kind piece of sports history, if a sports figure touched it, it’s going to be up for sale.  There is always someone out there who is willing to pay the going price for the pride of ownership.

And it’s just not baseball that racks up these kinds of prices.   Until the sale of Babe Ruth’s jersey, a copy of James Naismith’s founding rules of basketball held the record with a $4.3 million dollar sale price.   Muhammad Ali’s boxing gloves brought in a little over a million dollars when they were sold during an auction in conjunction with his 70^th birthday.

So whatever you collect that is associated with your favorite sports, be it signed pucks, golf balls, tennis rackets, baseballs or footballs, if your favorite sports personality touched it, signed it or used it, you can buy it.

If you could have anything that your favorite sports personality used during a winning game, what would it be?

Image source:  Flickr.com carloscappaticci

Sports Firsts, Victories and Follies for October 14

Here is some great sports trivia for events that occurred on October 14 over the last 100+ years

In 1905, the New York Giants beat the Philadelphia A’s in the 2^nd World Series.  They won 4 games to the A’s 1.

In 1906, in the first American League Victory, the White Sox beat the Cubs, leaving the Cubs to collect a loser’s share of just $439.50.  This is the lowest share on record.

In 1908, the smallest crowd ever, only 6,210 fan, was recorded for attending a World Series.  This was to see the Cubs beat the Tigers.

In 1911, the largest crowd ever, 38,281 at the Polo Grounds turned out to see the Giants beat the A’s.  The gate was a record $77,379 at the time.

In 1945 the Chicago Cardinals ended a 29 game losing streak to beat the Bears.

In 1962 Houston Oiler George Blanda threw 6 TD passes to help beat the New York Titans 56-17

In 1962 Kathy Whitworth one the LPGA Thunderbird Tourney.

In 1964 Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris hit home runs off of back to back pitches.

In 1965 Sandy Koufax pitched his second shutout of the Worlds Series with the Twins, 2-0.

In 1973 Willie Mays last hit helped the Mets beat the A’s in the World Series.

In 1979 Wayne Gretsky scored his first goal on the way to becoming the NHL’s greatest scorer.

In 1986 The decision is made by the IOC to start to stagger the Winter and Summer Olympic Games.

In 1990 Joe Montana passed for 6 touchdowns in the San Francisco 49er’s versus Atlanta for a final score of 45-35.

In 1992 The Toronto Blue Jays won their first ever American League pennant by beaing the Oakland A’s.

In 1996 Chris Jacke of the Packers kicked a 53 yard field goal to end overtime.  Longest field goal on record at the time.

In 2000, Roger Clemens of the Yankees, sets a record of 15 strikeouts during a World Series Game.

In 2007 during the New England Patriots versus Dallas game, Dallas ended up with 100 yards in penalties and were defeated 48-27.

So what were some of your Sports Firsts?  I would love to hear all about them!

As an early Mother’s Day gift, I took my mom to two Tampa sporting events. The first was to see the Tampa Bay Lightning take on the Pittsburgh Penguins at the St. Pete Times Forum in game three of the Stanley Cup Quarter-Finals. Though she’s still a die-hard Red Wings fan, she’s adopted the Lightning as her Eastern Conference team.  Unfortunately, Tampa lost, but we had great seats and got to see a great game.

My mom loves hockey! She learned the sport when I started working for the Detroit Red Wings, back in the day of the glowing puck. (Do you remember that?) To the long-time hockey fan it was very annoying, but for my mom, and any new fan, it was a great way to learn how to follow the puck.

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