Why Is The Country's Largest Auction House Selling A "Ty Cobb Signed"…

Heritage Auction Galleries in Dallas is currently offering a "miracle ball": a "1959 Exceptional Ty Cobb single signed baseball." (UPDATE, 6:40 EST: They pulled the auction. Screengrab is here.) The auction house listing describes the official Little League ball as, "Perhaps the finest we've ever encountered, this…

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The Say Hey Id: Willie Mays Was A Reluctant Letter-Writer, But He…

Here's one of Willie Mays's charming love letters to his then-girlfriend, former beauty queen Gladys Cofield. This would've been in the first half of the 1950s, though the exact date isn't clear. At the time, Mays was smitten with the former Jet covergirl and fawned over the pretty photographs she sent him as he…

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18-Year-Old Michael Jordan's Gibberishy, Cocky Love Letter To A Comely…

If only we had the grace and verve of Michael Jordan, we've often lamented, we could have been great basketball players. But that powerful desire never extended to love notes, when, clearly, it should have.

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The Time The KKK Politely Asked For A "Klan Day" At The Reds' Ballpark

These four letters procured by Deadspin's house MLB archivist, Pete Nash, show that the Ku Klux Klan wrote polite letters and were extremely generous about their flower boquets. At least that was the case in 1924.

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Old Hoss Flipping The Bird, And More: An Opening Day Retrospective

Peter Nash, resident baseball historian and former 3rd Bass prime minister, has pulled together some Opening Day memorabilia porn for your viewing pleasure. Like this 1886 Opening Day photo from Boston featuring Old Hoss Radbourn (top left) expressing joy about having his picture taken. Dive in.

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The Messy History Of Charlie Sheen's "Winning" Ring

As part of his relentless media odyssey this week, Charlie Sheen introduced himself to Twitter with a message that had a Chappelle-esque, "Kiss the rings, bitches" quality to it. It was an image of Sheen's shimmering 1927 World Series ring that was once worn by another winner with an equally insatiable appetite for…

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Mickey Mantle's "Outstanding Event" At Yankee Stadium Is Lewdly…

From Letters of Note comes this noteworthy correspondence exchange between the New York Yankees and a retired Mickey Mantle in Dec. 1972. The team sent a two-statement fill-in-the-blank survey in advance of Yankee Stadium's 50th anniversary.

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