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Barry Halper, baseball's super saver, dies It wasn't enough. Soon he collected his first uniform. That wasn't enough, either. And so it went for five decades: the baseball-crazy Newark kid growing into a baseball-crazy man who, treasure by treasure, amassed what was widely considered the greatest collection of baseball memorabilia outside Cooperstown. Uniforms worn by Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio. The ball Mickey Mantle clubbed for his 500th home run. Jackie Robinson's first Dodgers cap. Lou Gehrig's last glove. The only known autographed photo of Shoeless Joe Jackson. World Series rings. Trophies. And thousands upon thousands of baseball cards. All of it went into Halper's Livingston home, side by side with more obscure and unusual items, from a lock of the Babe's hair to Ty Cobb's false teeth and the double-barrel shotgun Cobb's mother had used to kill his father. Halper, a fan who became friends with some of the game's biggest stars, died of complications from diabetes Sunday at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston. He was 66. His name lives on, appropriately enough, at the National Baseball Hall of Fame, where the Barry Halper Gallery showcases some of the gems he acquired. Major League Baseball paid Halper $7.5 million in 1998 for the items for display in Cooperstown, N.Y. A year later, Halper sold the rest of his collection during a weeklong auction at Sotheby's, bringing in nearly $22 million. Halper, a longtime
minority owner of the New York Yankees, began contemplating the sale
in the mid-1990s after suffering a heart attack and undergoing bypass
surgery. In an interview with The Star-Ledger, he said he feared his
children would be saddled with enormous estate taxes otherwise. "This is not a painful decision but a practical one, given the stage of my life and the realities of estate planning and concern for my family," he said at the time. "I'm doing this in the best interests of my family." Memorabilia experts said Halper assembled the largest and finest collection in private hands. He earned a reputation as a discriminating collector who acquired obvious crowd-pleasers, rare items of historical significance and some that were downright weird. "You walked into his house, it was as if you were walking into another world," longtime friend Marvin Goldklang said. "It was the adult version of Disney World, such a phenomenal experience." Halper had numerous items signed by Ruth, his favorite player, along with the bat the ailing Ruth leaned on during his Yankee Stadium farewell in June 1948, shortly before his death. A banjo once owned by the Bambino carries the signatures of every player since Ruth to hit 500 home runs, though 1996. In case anyone missed the object of Halper's devotion, there was the life-size wax figure of Ruth from Madame Tussaud's in London. The collection included the contract that brought Ruth to the Yankees, a ticket from the first World Series, and the uniform Hank Aaron wore the night he hit his record-breaking 715th home run. Among Halper's many thousands of baseball cards was the Honus Wagner T-206 card, considered among the rarest, most valuable baseball cards. Halper has said his favorite item was Lou Gehrig's signed 1936 Yankees home pinstriped shirt, from the first year the "NY" was worn. Then there were the quirky items. In addition to Cobb's teeth, Halper had one of Cobb's razors. He also had a package of underwear endorsed -- but not worn -- by Ruth. As in Cooperstown, many of Halper's items were properly displayed. But others were more haphazard, much as the average fan might arrange them, said Marty Appel, another longtime friend. "Parts (of the collection) had no order to it," Appel said. "He had a huge collection of vintage baseball gloves in a big carton. Kids would love to go through and try them on." As much as Halper was known as a collector, his personality is what set him apart, said Appel, the Yankees' former public relations director. "I think he was a man who connected with everyone," said Appel. "He could talk baseball with Richard Nixon, as he did once, or just talk with someone who called him up." Halper, in fact, was known to open his house to strangers. "People would just call up and ask him if they could come over," Appel said. "If Barry liked the guy on the phone, he would invite them over. He just loved to talk about baseball." And collecting. "He loved to tell the story of the acquisition," Appel said. "I loved the tale as much as the piece itself." Those tales began in Newark. Halper grew up just a few blocks from the old Ruppert Stadium, then home to the Newark Bears. He began going to the park after school as an 8-year-old looking for autographs. One Bears player, a journeyman named Lou Novikoff, told Halper he would give Halper a uniform if Halper stopped pestering him for his signature. Halper was on to something. Six years later, during Old Timers Day at Yankee Stadium in 1954, Halper approached Cy Young for an autograph. The legendary pitcher, then in his 80s, dropped his cane as he moved to sign his name. When Young bent over to pick it up, a white pipe fell from his coat pocket and cracked on the pavement. "Now look what you made me do?" Young shouted, as Halper related the story. Then Young cooled down and handed the pipe to Halper. "You know what? You keep it. I've got more," Young said. Halper did keep it, but only after asking Young to sign it. Over decades, Halper became known for his collection and entertained many of the game's greats at his home in Livingston. DiMaggio visited so often that Halper's wife, Sharon, took a course in Italian cooking to better prepare his favorite meals. Halper had one other passion: the Burn Center at Saint Barnabas Medical Center. A member of the hospital's board of directors, he helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars. And when an organization would ask to showcase some of his memorabilia at an event, he would agree while making one request of the group: to make a donation to the burn center. "He always put that Burn Center at Saint Barnabas above everything else," Appel said. "He never had a family member at the unit, he just had a great affection for his hometown hospital." Halper is survived by his wife; two sons, Jason and Steve; and a daughter, Marni Stark. Services were scheduled for 11 a.m. today at Temple B'nai Jeshurun, 1025 South Orange Ave., Short Hills. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Burn Center at Saint Barnabas Medical Center, 100 Old Short Hills Road, Livingston, N.J. 07039. Arrangements were by the Bernheim-Apter-Kreitzman Funeral Chapel, Livingston. |