Welcome to Sports Memorabilia Insider – FREE Version. We use Moneyball tactics to discover undervalued, mispriced, and hidden gems in Fractional Investing.
Today is a deep dive into a pair of one of a kind assets:
- Baseball signed by all eleven original HOF Inductees – IPOs on Collectable at 6pm EST 28th March
- Andre the Giant Game-Used Jockstrap – IPOs on Collectable at 1pm EST 26th March
[editor’s note] I don’t care that the jockstrap IPOs first. I’m not leading with that.
Table of Contents
What is the 11 Original HOF Inductees Signed Baseball?
In June, 1939, the Baseball Hall of Fame was opened and held a ceremony that all of the living inductees to that point attended. This ball was signed by those eleven men, a list of absolute legends — Ty Cobb, Cy Young, Walter Johnson, Tris Speaker, Honus Wagner, Nap Lajoie, Eddie Collins, George Sisler, Grover Cleveland Alexander and Connie Mack, with Babe Ruth on the sweet spot.
PSA/DNA graded the ball as a 6 overall and authenticated all eleven signatures.
There are not many other signed baseballs like it out there.
It IPOs on Collectable at 6 PM EST on March 28th for $300,000. The consignor is holding $224,000 in retained equity, leaving $76,000 in shares.
Add IPO to calendar
Cultural Relevance
While not all of the names are immediately familiar to casual baseball fans, absolutely everyone knows who Babe Ruth is and baseball fans will certainly know Cy Young and Ty Cobb (who I wrote about here). Walter Johnson is arguably the greatest pitcher of all-time, Connie Mack one of the greatest managers of all-time and the other men are all inner-circle Hall of Famers.
This photo of the men at the ceremony is one of the most iconic in baseball history (Ty Cobb’s train was late and he missed the picture).
Inferred Value – $200k+
[Detailed Analysis Available to Insiders only]
Category Strength
The sports memorabilia category has returned 17% ROI so far across the entire portfolio.
Subcategory Strength
Risk Profile
Recent Growth Trend
Growth Outlook and Future Catalysts
With only a few examples of these types of balls, one of them going on the market could set the price for this asset for better or worse. An item with such historical significance could also be attractive to wealthy collectors looking for something unique.
Asset Liquidity
This will have a roughly 90 day lockup period then will trade daily.
Platform Risk
Intangibles
The asset itself is pretty cool as a piece of history, but the retained equity level of 74.67% just means in some way you are giving the consignor an interest free loan with the asset as collateral.
What is the Andre the Giant Game Used Jockstrap?
Believe it or not, it’s exactly what it sounds like. A used jockstrap worn by Andre the Giant during his wrestling career. Not sure that wrestlers have games but you get the picture. It’s obviously a unique item.
It IPOs on Collectable at 1 PM EST on March 26th for $29,000. The consignor holds $14,640 in retained equity.
Add IPO to calendar
Cultural Relevance
The aptly nicknamed Andre the Giant (seriously, the jockstrap has a ~60-in waist size!) was a French-born professional wrestler who rose to fame in the 1970s and reached his peak of fame in the mid-late 1980s. Reportedly 7’4” and over 500 pounds, he was one of the biggest stars in the nascent WWF (now WWE) and had a long-standing rivalry with fellow superstar Hulk Hogan.
He is probably best remembered today for his part in the 1987 classic film The Princess Bride though he did appear in numerous TV shows and films. His star faded fairly quickly and he died in 1993 at age 46 of a heart attack. A 2018 HBO documentary Andre the Giant sparked renewed interest in his story. While he remains a vital cultural figure, particularly to people born in the 1980s and before, I’m not sure how relevant he is to younger generations outside of wrestling fans.
Here’s a picture from the set of Conan the Destroyer where he and Wilt Chamberlain make Arnold Schwarzenegger look like a tiny child:
Dude was indeed, giant.
Points – 6/10
Inferred Value – $10k +
[Detailed Analysis Available to Insiders only]
Category Strength
The sports memorabilia category has returned 17% ROI so far across the entire portfolio.
Subcategory Strength
Risk Profile
Recent Growth Trend
Growth Outlook and Future Catalysts
Short of the inevitable Hollywood biopic that will come out some day, there’s not a whole lot to cause this asset to appreciate outside of general market forces in sports memorabilia. I don’t see another documentary coming out so soon after the HBO one, the Princess Bride already got a lot of PR in 2017 for its 30th anniversary and of course, Andre died nearly three decades ago. He has been a character on the new NBC sitcom Young Rock but that hasn’t boosted his profile on Google Trends all that much.
There’s some minor media chatter around the item being sold as a curiosity but the only reason for this to rise in value is if an Andre the Giant super fan decides that they really want to own his jockstrap.
It is worth noting that Collectable IPOs have been selling out immediately, so if that happens again, there might be some pent-up demand when the shares trade in 90 days to cause a spike when trading opens. We’ve seen that with their other unique sports memorabilia items before it slowly falls back to the IPO price.
Asset Liquidity
This will have a roughly 90 day lockup period then will trade daily.
Platform Risk
Intangibles
It’s a $30,000 jockstrap. I definitely never thought I’d be writing that sentence. But it’s also a $30,000 jockstrap where the consignor is holding over 50% of the shares.
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