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Sunday, November 23, 1997

Mantle auction proceeds minus 33 items

By LARRY McSHANE / Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK (AP) -- In an auction that Mickey Mantle's estate decried as "ghoulish," a lock of the late Hall of Famer's hair sold Saturday for $6,900.

The Manhattan sale of Mantle memorabilia drew an overflow crowd to Leland's auction house, which agreed less than 24 hours earlier to withdraw 33 other personal items from the sale in a settlement with the Mantle family.

Three items that the family had sought to reclaim in a federal lawsuit were auctioned off. The lock of hair went for far above its pre-sale estimate of $700; the other two personal items also exceeded their estimates.

Mantle's passport sold for $9,200, while his signed American Express platinum card brought $7,175. The identities of the buyers were not released.

On Friday, an assortment of Mantle's belongings were yanked off the auction block in a deal reached between the family of the New York Yankees' star, the auction house, and his agent and longtime companion, Greer Johnson.

Ms. Johnson, 46, said she opted to compromise rather than wage an expensive fight against the estate. Mantle died of liver cancer in Dallas in August 1995.

Among the items removed from the sale were Mantle's birth certificate, his green terrycloth bathrobe, his neck brace, his prescription medicine bottles, his reading glasses and an assortment of shoes, socks, shirts and sweaters.

Estate attorney Robert S. Fink, speaking after the Friday morning settlement, characterized the sale of those items as "ghoulish."

The more traditional items brought higher prices at the auction of 201 Mantle-related lots.

A collection of 260 signed business cards from Mantle's eponymous Manhattan restaurant sold for $23,000. A baseball signed by members of the 1961 World Champion Yankees brought $12,650. And a copy of Mantle's last public speech, delivered at the Baylor University Medical Center, sold for $24,150.

Although Mantle and his wife were estranged for the last 15 years of his life, they never divorced. Mantle met Ms. Johnson in 1984 and the two had a relationship until his death.

The funds from the auction will go into a charitable trust established by Ms. Johnson, who draws an annual salary from the organization. Ultimately, the money will go to a pair of Mantle's favorite charities: the Make-A-Wish Foundation and the Baseball Assistance Team, which helps needy older ballplayers.