Schott’s Memorabilia Goes on Auction Block

CINCINNATI — There are Reds uniforms and replica World Series trophies, autographed baseballs and leftover Beanie Babies, a Pete Rose jersey and thousands of packs of baseball cards.

There’s an old Max Venable bat, resting on the table next to a Sal Butera model. Somehow, a Ray Fosse model got mixed into the lot, even though he never played for the Reds. There are old Christmas cards, as well as pictures and posters of Schottzie the dog.

Packs of 1990s-vintage Reds cards are stuffed in cardboard boxes, stacked several feet high. Nearby is a box full of videotapes, many of them unmarked.

That’s only the beginning of this most unusual collection.

The baseball memorabilia -- perhaps “stuff” is a better description -- that Cincinnati owner Marge Schott accumulated through the years will be auctioned off March 31 to benefit her charitable foundation. Thousands of items -- some valuable, many merely fanciful -- randomly were stored at her estate in suburban Indian Hill and her business office when she died in 2004.

Now, they’re all up for bid.

“Marge was not a baseball collector in the true sense that she wanted to assemble a representative collection of things from the Cincinnati Reds,” said Wes Cowan, founder of Cowan’s Auctions in Cincinnati. “I think she was more of an accumulator and she was an opportunist.

“She had the opportunity as the owner of the Reds for nearly 15 years to grab stuff, and that’s what she did.”

The auction is one of three to liquidate Schott’s belongings and raise money for Schott’s foundation, which has donated millions of dollars to various religious, civic and charitable groups since 1965. It’s also a chance to get an inside look at the woman who symbolized baseball’s first professional franchise for 15 years.

“I don’t want to diminish the collection at all, because there are some good things here,” Cowan said. “But I think that people who are going to be interested in this collection are the people who remember Marge Schott. It’s more of a reflection of the kind of person she was.”

Schott was one of baseball’s most approachable owners, signing autographs from her front-row seat behind the dugout. She also was one of its most controversial. Her use of racial and ethnic slurs drew suspensions and put baseball in an uncomfortable national spotlight.

During her reign, the Reds won the 1990 World Series, reached the NL championship series in 1995 and went through the trauma of Rose’s lifetime ban for gambling in 1989.

There are hints of it all in the collection.

The most valuable items recall the glory days -- her two 12-inch-tall replicas of the 1990 World Series trophy. The collection includes a Rose uniform from 1988, when the All-Star game was held in Cincinnati. Rose was still managing then, a year before he was banned by commissioner Bart Giamatti.

Also up for bid: eight baseballs stamped with Giamatti’s name and signed by Rose.

Schott kept a uniform from outfielder Eric Davis, the top player on the 1990 team. The No. 44 jersey represents another historical connection -- Schott got in trouble for referring to Davis and former outfielder Dave Parker with a racial slur.

There’s a signed biography of Cincinnati Bengals founder Paul Brown, made out “To Marge Schott, with respect and admiration.” And, a “Millie” the dog book from former first lady Barbara Bush, commemorating her visit during the 1990 Series.

There’s a Kal Daniels bat -- Schott once flipped a coin to settle a contract dispute with the outfielder -- and bats from Terry Francona, Lloyd McClendon, Nick Esasky, Buddy Bell and Ron Oester. One Fosse model made it into Schott’s collection -- he’s the Cleveland Indians catcher who got bowled over by Rose during the 1970 All-Star game in Cincinnati.

“There’s no personal history that’s attached to any of this,” Cowan said. “Whatever personal history was attached to it went when Marge died.”

Schott kept leftovers from the team’s promotions. For instance, she saved thousands of packs of Reds baseball cards, including some from manager Lou Piniella’s teams and some from Davey Johnson’s teams.

Piniella led the Reds to their 1990 title. Johnson led them to their last playoff appearance, in 1995. Schott ran off both of them, part of her penchant for changing managers and general managers.

There are leftover Beanie Babies and bobbleheads and other promotional items that once took up space at Riverfront Stadium.

“I remember an office that had become a mini-storage room, where there was a lot of the leftover souvenir items and giveaway merchandise,” former publicity director Jon Braude said. “She would be down there getting out some goodies to give to some kid that would stop by, or someone that she wanted to treat with a little Reds item. It was kind of her special storage area.”

Not included are items on loan to the team’s hall of fame and museum that could become part of its permanent collection -- the blue seat Schott occupied behind the dugout, her World Series ring, a World Series collar made specially for Schottzie.

Schott’s personal belongings -- furniture and so forth -- raised about $200,000 at auction in December. Her late husband, Charles, had an art collection that is expected to raise between $2 million and $4 million at auction in June. Cowan will be happy if the baseball memorabilia brings $100,000.

“The collection probably has a lot of sentimental value to people,” Cowan said. “The people from Cincinnati and the region, I expect them to be all over this stuff because it was Marge’s stuff.”