On Thursday, the owners of Harry Caray’s Restaurant Group in Chicago will destroy an item that is as loathed in Chicago almost as much Steve Bartman’s season-ticket renewal form: the baseball that neither Bartman nor Cubs outfielder Moises Alou caught in Game 6 of the NLCS, opening the door to a Marlins comeback that ultimately prevented the Cubs from reaching the World Series for the first time since the Truman administration. The bidding for the ball that may have ruined one man’s life and an entire city’s dreams opened at $5,000 and was eventually sold for $113,824.

What are the most interesting memorabilia purchases items of all time? The List takes a look at the baseball stuff purchased by people who personify the terms “discretionary income” and “wretched excess.”

No. 5: One man’s gum is another man’s treasure
Chewing gum always has been part of baseball. In 1899, John "Chewing Gum" O'Brien played for the Baltimore Orioles. In 1921, William Wrigley bought the Chicago Cubs with money generated from Juicy Fruit and Doublemint sales.

But in 2002, chewing gum and baseball took on an entirely different meaning. In an April auction that year, a Wisconsin man paid $10,000 for a piece of gum that was already chewed and tossed onto the infield dirt by Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Luis Gonzalez.

Jason Gabbert, a sports memorabilia salesman, saw Gonzalez discard the gum during a spring training game and decided to auction it off for charity. When the security guard who recovered the gum for Gabbert doubted the gum’s legitimacy, a DNA test was brought in for authenticity.

Good thing Gonzalez prefers gum to chewing tobacco.

No. 4: Mark McGwire’s record-breaking 70^th HR ball (well, it was a record)
In 1998, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa locked in a riveting home-run race that helped baseball fans forget about the crippling ’94 strike. In the end, McGwire outmuscled Sosa by spanking 70 homers to Sosa’s 66.

Cardinals fan Phil Ozersky retrieved the record ball (and got a black eye for his trouble during the scramble) and put it up for auction. In February 1999, comic book creator Todd McFarlane purchased it for $3.05 million, as well as nine other home run balls hit by McGwire and Sosa during that season for an additional $2 million.

At the time the McGwire record seemed it would last as long as Roger Maris’ 61 homers did after the 1961 season. Then two issues emerged: (1) Barry Bonds went on to break McGwire’s record four years later with 73 home runs, and (2) McGwire revealed that he used a muscle enhancer—Andro—that many feel has tainted what he accomplished in the ’98 season. It has been implied, although never proven, that Bonds benefited from muscle enhancers as well.

Ironically, the Bonds’ 73^rd home run ball only fetched $450,000 in 2003.

No. 3: Honus Wagner’s protest
American kids rarely trade baseball cards anymore, but if they learned that one card made almost a century ago sold for $1.265 million, they might finally drop their X-Box remotes.

Wagner’s stats during his career from 1897-1917 were extraordinary. The Flying Dutchman led the National League in batting eight times, owned a lifetime batting average of .329 (batting over .300 in 17 consecutive years), had 3,430 base hits and played in 2,785 games.

Still, the reason his 1910 card is worth so much is because the cards were printed by the Piedmont Cigarette Company without the anti-tobacco Wagner’s permission. Their production came to a halt as soon as Wagner learned they were being made, as he felt the cards were a bad influence on children.

Less than 75 authentic cards are known to exist, increasing their value.

No. 2: The Mookie ball
Game 6 of the 1986 World Series between the Mets and Red Sox will not be remembered for Calvin Schiraldi’s wild pitch that tied the game, or John McNamara’s curious decision not to send in a replacement for a gimpy first baseman with Boston protecting a two-run lead in the 11^th. Instead, it will always, and unfairly, be remembered for Bill Buckner allowing Mookie Wilson’s dribbler to skip under his glove, letting the winning run score in what was arguably the greatest game ever. The Mets would go on to win Game 7 after the Red Sox blew an early 3-0 lead (a fact also largely forgotten).

The ball that eluded Billy Buck was sold to a guy who didn’t play baseball in real life, but who played a wild-eyed and wild pitcher in the underrated movie “Major League,” actor Charlie Sheen. The cost? $93,500, or about 10 times the presale estimate of $ 8,000 to $10,000.

Buckner created some controversy immediately following the sale by claiming he still had the actual ball, but the claims were later proven false.

Sheen put the ball back up for auction in 2000, where it was sold for nearly $30,000 less than what the actor paid for it back in 1992.

No. 1: Jeff Nelson puts his chips on the table
Some altruistic people donate their body parts to science after they've passed on. But in the case of a very alive Jeff Nelson, he decided that his surgically removed bone chips from his elbow might be something someone in this world might actually like to own. He was wrong. It turned out several hundred wanted a piece of him to take home.

In May 2002, bidding on eBay skyrocketed from an opening bid of $250 to $23,600 before the auction was stopped because of the online auction site’s rule that prohibits the selling of body parts.

"EBay does not allow the listing of body parts on its site," site spokesperson Kevin Pursglove said after the auction. "Once the item was spotted by our customer support team, the auction was ended.”

"It's kind of embarrassing that someone would want to buy something that came out of your elbow," Nelson said. 

Could you imagine the kind of cash Nelson could have generated after a body cavity search?

Ugh.

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