Fast Break
Memorabilia
Baseball card sells for $1.62M
An Arkansas man has bought a 1909 Honus Wagner baseball card for $1.62 million at a memorabilia auction in Chicago, a sports auction company said Saturday.
The record price for a baseball card is $2.8 million – paid in 2007 for a near-mint condition Wagner card released in 1909 by the American Tobacco Company.
Bidders at the Friday night auction also spent $42,000 on Ken Griffey, Jr.’s 600th home run ball and $240,000 for a 1938 Lou Gehrig Yankees road jersey, said Doug Allen, Mastro Auctions chief operating officer.
Allen identified the new owner of the T206 Wagner card as John Rogers, of Little Rock, Ark. Rogers did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment left on his voice mail. The T206 cards are from a series issued between 1909 and 1911.
Baseball
Brown leads U.S. past Canada
Matthew Brown of Coeur d’Alene drove in four runs and Trevor Cahill threw four dominant innings to lead the United States to a 7-2 pre-Olympic exhibition victory over Canada at Durham, N.C.
Nate Schierholtz homered to help the Americans bounce back after losing 4-3 in 10 innings a night earlier in the opener of the friendly four-game series scheduled to help both teams prepare for Beijing.
Cahill retired 12 of the 14 hitters he faced and allowed only a first-inning single to Stubby Clapp. Oakland’s second-round draft pick two years ago kept Canada’s lineup off balance by mixing a fastball that hit 97 mph on the stadium’s radar gun with an effective off-speed repertoire before turning it over to the Durham Bulls’ Jeremy Cummings in the fifth.
They combined to retire 11 consecutive batters before Cummings plunked Scott Thorman in the seventh, then lost the shutout an inning later when VanOstrand’s drive cleared the 32-foot wall in left field. Casey Weathers entered in the ninth and finished the four-hitter.
Cahill was credited with the victory because he was only scheduled to pitch four innings by U.S. manager Davey Johnson, who planned to get each of his pitchers some work in the series.
Football
Carroll first in preseason poll
Montana’s Carroll College is ranked first in the Victory Sports Network preseason poll for the NAIA.
The Carroll Saints have won five national championships in the last six seasons. This is the fifth time in six years they’ve been ranked first in the Victory Sports Network preseason poll.
Carroll has 10 returning starters.
Montana Tech is ranked 11th in the poll.