Auction Block: On This Day

One way to collect is by cornering a spot on the calendar

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Malone's jersey could be yours. If he'll let you have it.

So many sporting events are in progress right now: The NCAA basketball tournament is down to its final 16 teams, with a couple of weeks to go before we can crown a champion; the NBA and NHL are in the home stretch, but the playoffs haven't begun yet; baseball is in spring training, and even the WBC reigned in some attention.

So, rather than looking ahead this week, let's look back. Pick any date on the calendar and you'll find a handful of meaningful sporting events that happened on the same day in a previous year. And memorabilia.

One site that helps put today in touch with yesterday is Today in Sport. Visitors can search by sport, including cricket and rugby as well as basketball, football and baseball. There's even an entry form that allows readers to submit historical events that can be added into the database for the appropriate day, should any entry be less than complete.

You can go about it any number of ways. Our way, of course, is to find an inspiring event, and then find out what memorabilia exists that might help connect us to that point in sports history. We decide to give it a try this week.

Birthdays

Game worn Moses Malone Jersey: No offense to Karl, but when it comes to NBA forwards named Malone, this cat is the Godfather. Born in Virginia on this date in 1955, Moses played for 20 years in the ABA and NBA and was inducted into the basketball hall in 2001. This is reputed to be the last jersey he ever wore, so the bidding is fierce.

Gail Goodrich HOF signed basketball: The leading scorer on the '72 Laker team that won the first L.A. championship for the organization, starting a dynasty. Born on this day in 1943.

Jason Kidd Nets Bobblehead: A rare bobble issued in 2001 commemorates the New Jersey portion of the passing wiz's hall-of-fame-bound career. J-Kidd's zeroeth birthday was in '73.

Not sure why all of the notable birthdays were for basketball stars, but that's the way the ball bounces, right?

Events

Frank McGuire and Wilt Chamberlain magazine cover: We'll have to unpack the meaning of this item a bit. On this date in 1957, coach Frank McGuire led the North Carolina Tarheels to a perfect 32-0 record, winning two triple-overtime games to take a National Championship. Despite his team's unsullied record, it was Kansas' Wilt Chamberlain who took home the individual MOP award after falling one game short of a ring. A few years later, McGuire was hired to coach the Philadelphia 76ers, starring none other than the Stilt. Funny how things tend to come around, eh?

O-Pee-Chee Wayne Gretzky Rookie Card: Back when The Great One was just the Pretty Darn Good One. He secured his legend on this date in 1994 by scoring his 802nd goal, setting a record that he would proceed to break 92 more times before he retired.

Authentic World League football: The World League of American Football began play March 23, 1991. Where else could a real football fan catch the Montreal Machine vs. the Raleigh-Durham Skyhawks? And if that didn't gain everyone enough frequent flyer miles, the Barcelona Dragons at the Sacramento Surge would likely do the trick.

Photo of 1926 Montreal Maroons: The Maroons knocked the hockey version of the Pittsburgh Pirates out of contention for Lord Stanley's cup on this day in 1926. They took the cup themselves.

So much of collecting is so predictable—collect your hometown team's stuff, hoard anything signed by your favorite player, or only buy things that were manufactured before, say, 1960. Perhaps this can be the new trend: find out what happened on your birthday and collect only items that tie in to that special personal day. Why not? Dare to be different.

Let us know what you find at collectespn@gmail.com

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