October Legends and Americana Ending November 14th
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 11/15/2015
When Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa staged their incredible home run race in 1998, they both ended up passing Roger Maris’s record of 61 home runs in a season with McGwire setting the new mark at 70, (Sosa finished with 66). Few observers doubted that the new record would be broken in just three years, but that’s exactly what happened when Barry Bonds passed McGwire with numbers 71 and 72 on October 5th, 2001. He set the new record at 73 with a first-inning blast off towards L.A. Dodgers pitcher Dennis Springer on the last day of the season, two days later at Pacific Bell Park in San Francisco. This 10K white gold, size 12.5, 41-gram ring was made by the Josten’s company to commemorate Bonds’ historic achievement. A dozen diamonds are inlaid on a gold number “73” embedded against a black background on the ring’s face. “BARRY BONDS OCTOBER 7, 2001” is in raised relief around the ring’s perimeter with “ALL-TIME SINGLE SEASON HOME RUN KING” running along the inner perimeter. The right shank contains a sculpted relief of the Giants Pacific Bell (now AT & T) Park with a “73 vs. LA DODGERS OFF OF DENNIS SPRINGER” caption with “GIANTS OCT. 5, 2001 71, 72 VS. LA DODGERS OFF OF CHAN HO PARK” on the left shank. “Josten’s 10K” is engraved on the ring’s interior band and the ring is contained in its original blue/gray velvet display case. This custom made ring commemorates one of the signature milestone achievements of one of the game’s greatest sluggers. This was one of four rings created for Bonds, one for Barry and his father Bobby Bonds, and 2 for his marketing agents. Ring comes with an LOA from his former representative who is auctioning off his personal ring ( one of the four issued.)