On my quest to bring you autograph collectors the latest news, I came across something that struck me as incredibly bizarre this morning. That’s because I merely read the first line. Now, living in San Diego and having Steve Garvey be a hero for a homerun that helped get the Padres into the World Series – any news about him is big. Yet I read the story as: Former Dodger and Padres slugger Steve Garvey is battling prostate cancer. The 10-time All Star and 1974 MVP, had his prostate removed.

Now at this point, I glanced away to take a bite of my sandwich. When I got back to reading I saw “Garvey, 64, made an announcement in which he stated he is putting up for auction….”

At this point, I spit out my sandwich. I took a gulp of Diet Dr. Pepper before continuing to read the following sentence in shock.

“….several personal baseball items, including that MVP trophy.”

Wheww! It wasn’t his prostate up for auction. Hey, it’s not so crazy. William Shatner once sold a kidney stone on eBay. In the movie Ted, actor Joel McHale joked about having the testicle of Lance Armstrong bronzed and on his shelf.

Garvey, always the class act, is donating 70% of the proceeds to prostate cancer awareness.

In more happy baseball auction news, Hall of Fame icon Walter Johnson’s wife had saved a scrapbook with various things about his career. His daughter Carolyn Thomas is now putting that stuff up for auction. She’s 90-years-young and said “There are some real Walter fans out there. It’s going to take some money, but they’re going to win it and be so hapy. So let’s get the stuff out of the closet, and money we can use from it, and turn it over to the next generation of collectors. We’re all temporary custodians of this stuff.”

Baseball collectors everywhere rejoice.

And just what was in her closet? A one-of-a-kind item. A ticket in the Lower Grand Stand at Griffith Stadium for game 7 of the 1924 World Series. Even the perforations are still intact. The reason? It was never torn by the ticket-taker, since the wife just walked in with Walter Johnson (and ushers aren’t usually in the habit of asking players wives to produce tickets).

There are 32 scrapbooks, and the items get even nicer. There’s a framed copy of Johnson’s plaque from his Hall of Fame induction, a “Notice to Player of Release or Transfer” signed by Washington Senators owner Clark Griffith after Johnson’s final season in 1927. My favorite item is the handwritten congratulatory letter from Ty Cobb. Anybody wanna go halves on that?