In October of 2000, the baseball world was zoned in on New York City as the Yankees and Mets went to battle in the first and only Subway World Series in history between the two clubs, and now the event that has defined the series is headed to auction as the shard from the bat that Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens threw towards Mets catcher Mike Piazza during Game 2 of that series is being auctioned off.
According to ESPN, Dallas-based Heritage Auctions is selling the piece of Piazza's wooden bat that Clemens threw towards him in one of the most memorable World Series confrontations in history. ESPN reports that the remaining piece of the barrel of the bat was consigned by Jeff Mangold, who served as the Yankees strength and conditioning coach from 1984-88 and 1998-2006. Mangold took the remaining piece of the bat home from the stadium that night.
"I've had this for 13 years," Mangold said via ESPN. "It was just sitting in my office and very few people knew about it. But I think this is an article of sports memorabilia that has some substance to it."
A photo of the bat can be seen here, and it still clearly has Piazza's name written across it in all caps as well as the Mizuno logo on it.
Three and a half months after Clemens hit Piazza in the head during one of the team's regular-season meetings, the two went up against each other in Game 2 of the World Series. Piazza broke his bat on a foul ball and the end of the handle remained in his hand while the barrel rolled out between the pitcher's mound and the first base line. Clemens picked up the shard of the bat--later saying he believed it to be the ball--and tossed it in Piazza's direction.
Piazza then approached Clemens as the benches cleared but nothing escalated. Piazza eventually grounded out to end the at-bat. The Yankees would go on to win the game 6-5 and eventually take the series in five games while that moment became one of the most memorable in the series.
ESPN reports that the auction house believes that the bidding could reach as high as $10,000 and it opened up last week while it currently sits at $4,481.25.
A live auction for the remains of the bat is set to take place in New York on Feb. 22.
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