If you’ve ever considered owning a piece of collectible sports history but found it too expensive to buy, controversial athletes are creating interesting opportunities for you.
For baseball fans, an 8×10-inch autographed photo of Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez (nicknamed A-Rod), who has been suspended by Major League Baseball over the use of performance—enhancing drugs, used to go for $296. It’s on sale now for $40.
For cycling enthusiasts, a jersey signed by Lance Armstrong, who was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles over the use of performance–enhancing drugs, fetched $2,000 at the height of his career. Recently, you could buy one on eBay for less than $300.
In fact, the price of memorabilia drops by as much as 80% whenever superstars get caught up in scandals. That includes home run champion Barry Bonds, golfer Tiger Woods and former NFL great O.J. Simpson (who, ironically, received a prison sentence of up to 33 years for stealing his own sports memorabilia at gunpoint from a collector in 2007).
Reason: Even for serious collectors, memorabilia is more than an investment. It’s a chance to experience -heroes and their remarkable performances on an intimate level, as well as display a tangible connection to them. Negative publicity tends to compromise and devalue that exceptional experience.
An autographed baseball from the formerly admired Bonds, who was accused of using anabolic steroids in 2007, his final season, and convicted of obstruction of justice in a federal investigation in 2011, used to sell for as much as $450. Now you can get one for $69.
However, prices may recover over time, depending on the nature of the athlete’s transgression. If an athlete’s actions seem to taint the legitimacy of his/her on-field achievements, the value of the memorabilia will struggle to bounce back.
If the scandal is personal or the athlete can continue to win and set new records, his memorabilia may have a second life. -Tiger Woods has won eight PGA tour titles since the news of his marital infidelities, and his memorabilia has recouped some of its lost value. Example: A 2001 SP Authentic Tiger Woods autographed rookie card, which sold for as much as $4,400, had dropped to $1,750 in 2009 but has since rebounded to $3,000.
The jury is still out on A-Rod memorabilia. It probably will never be as valuable as memorabilia for Yankee captain Derek Jeter, who has Hall of Fame credentials and a sterling reputation. An A-Rod game-used and autographed bat goes for around $500. A similar Jeter item is worth $2,000 to $3,000.
But if A-Rod can win the appeal of his baseball suspension, catch up to Hank Aaron or Barry Bonds in lifetime home runs or get elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame years from now, today’s prices could seem like a steal.
