But a bat inked by the the Yankees‘ own Sultan of Swat?  Now that’s a rare find.

Especially one in the condition of the piece of lumber that just went up on the Steiner Sports site.

This one is in pristine condition; The Babe’s distinctive signature is clear and smooth and in a perfect spot, between the trademark and branded autograph.  And it’s not a game-used bat, but a promotional model, which was even rarer for the time of the signing, which Steiner and James Spence Authentication estimate to be around 1933.  It’s estimated that around 15 exist.

The current bid is around $17,000, which hasn’t met the “reserve,” and I suspect this is nowhere near that figure.

Part of the Ruth legend is that he is of a time when a celebrity’s every move wasn’t scrutinized 24-7 by a zealous press corp and millions of “citizen journalists.”  Adding to the folklore — and obfuscation  — are the three ridiculous biopic movies made about him. (n.b., post on fun/unheralded/goofy baseball movies coming soon).

That, and the fact that he has been dead for more than 60 years, well before the memorabilia craze got going, puts Ruth items at the top of collectors’ wish lists.  There were no marathon bat-signing sessions like Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio had in the 80s and 90s, and no one like Steiner Sports or other groups to capture and monetize the authenticated memorabilia market.

That market has certainly been captured and monetized today, and though the Ruth bat is at least three zeroes out of my price range, it’s fun to see a piece of history on display.

Since MMA is still not sanctioned/legal in the state of New York, Newark and East Rutherford, N.J., are the closest thing to a New York City event that the UFC can get at this time.  So, to encompass NYC into UFC 111, the promotion has scheduled a press conference at Radio City Music Hall (Wednesday, March 24) and open workout at Peak Performance Strength and Conditioning Center (Thursday, March 25).  Fans can also catch the official Weigh-in at the Prudential Center on Friday at 4, with some autograph sessions scheduled beforehand.

It’s this unique connection to the fans that has helped the growth of the UFC tremendously.  For one of its biggest, most-highly-anticipated events, the organization has basically rolled out the red carpet for fans, with numerous events that have no admission charge.  This builds significant goodwill and strong buzz for the event and the promotion in a sport that has a strong, loyal base and is expanding slowly into the mainstream.

Even some of the Big East Tournament early round games have had some NCAA Tournament implications, with teams “on the bubble” like Seton Hall, South Florida and Notre Dame playing for spots in the field of 65.  (Of course, it should still be 64, but an extra automatic bid a few years back for some reason did not include a reduction in at-large bids).

There has been strong talk of the NCAA increasing the field to 96, as soon as 2011.  What a huge mistake this would be.  The argument goes that there are around 350 schools in Division I (at least 50 of which would be better served in Division II, but that’s another story for another day), significantly more than the 250 or so that were in the Division when the field last expanded from 48 in the 1980s.

Now, I love the schools termed “mid-majors,” and every one of the leagues deserves a bid.  And the system is largely stacked against the Sienas and Northern Iowas that don’t play in “power” conferences and can never get home games against the kind of non-league teams they would need to beat to earn an at-large selection.  I get that.  But by guaranteeing more slots in the NCAA’s, fewer league tournament games would have that all-or-nothing meaning, and the games that do would involve worse teams.  Sure, a few good teams are left out every year.  But I think adding 25 mediocre teams to get in six somewhat deserving ones isn’t worth it.

The accomplishment of reaching the NCAA’s should be just that — an accomplishment.  Whenever I go in to a college gym I’ve never been to, I like to look up at the banners.  Those teams have earned a special place in that school’s history.  For some, the postseason is an annual event.  For others, it may be closing in on 20 years since the last trip (yes, this means you, Alma Mater Fordham).  If suddenly nearly 50% more teams were to qualify, it would for sure less of a “big deal” and would lose a lot of its luster.

I’ve known Mike for the past four years, and this format will be perfect for him.  He truly loves the sport, taking on the “Fight Game” program as an extra assignment, just because he wanted to give the sport more exposure and recognized the journalistic gold-mine that MMA and its athletes provides.

HDNet is a key channel for MMA fans, and the addition of this show makes it even more so.  The popular “Inside MMA” program with Bas Rutten, Kenny Rice and Ron Kruck (three pros who teamed up on International Fight League broadcasts back when I was with the league) remains in its 9 p.m. Friday slot.  “Fighting Words” will be a nice complement to the fast-paced “Inside MMA.”

The sport is growing, and the more programs like this, in the hands of capable reporters and hosts like Mike, the better.

Before Billy’s untimely death, he “co-starred” in a reality-type show with fellow infomercial stand-by Anthony Sullivan called “Pitchmen,” which followed would-be inventors as they pitched their products, first to Billy and Anthony, then to Telebrands or a competitor, then to the public through an infomercial.  It was a fun look inside the infomercial business.

The Snuggie(TM) people have broken out into the mainstream in a big way, creating all kinds of officially licensed products, from professional teams to weird leopard and zebra prints.  The Cleveland Cavaliers decided to have some fun and get some good press along the way with a promotion last week in which they gave away red Snuggies(TM) with the Cavs logo and set a Guinness Book of World Records mark for the “largest gathering of people wearing fleece blankets.”

It’s a fun PR stunt, and got lots of pickup.  To me, it shows a couple of things.  One, that the Cavs, who have done a few other fun promotions in the past, aren’t depending on just having Lebron James on their team to sell tickets.  These events help the team connect with the community and fan base, something they might really need if James ends up signing elsewhere at the end of the season.  Two, it shows that, marketed properly, if it seems to fill a perceived need, just about anything can be sold to the public and become a phenomenon.

The Wheaties box goes back even further than SI, though it started as a back cover rather than the front, when Lou Gehrig was the first athlete to appear in 1934.  The list of athletes is a who’s who of sports through the decades, with the obvious names that have become legendary like Yogi Berra, Ben Hogan, and Magic Johnson, to forgotten ones like Olympic diver Jane Fauntz, Michigan football player Benny Friedman and 1930s and 40s baseball player Cecil Travis.

But even the ones we don’t remember today have a place in the pantheon of boxes — for that moment they were relevant enough that a cereal company thought that their presence on the box would sell cereal, and would represent the wholesome image that the Wheaties brand tries to reflect.

I was shocked in 1997 to find that Jackie Robinson had never been on the cover.  I had been doing some work with General Mills, through the PR agency at which I worked, and was pleased to meet Jackie’s daughter and grandson at a press tour and press conference, which tied in nicely to the 50th anniversary of Robinson’s first game with the Dodgers.

It’s this tie to the past that interests me the most about the new cover athletes.  Though General Mills has been tinkering with the brand, trying to appeal to a younger audience with something called Wheaties Fuel, after having tried to capture the same cover-athlete phenomenon with the short-lived Team Cheerios brand (for which I was a member of the initial PR team back in 1997), the use of White, Vonn and Wescott reflects not only three current Olympic heroes, capitalizing on their popularity, but an attempt to make the Wheaties brand more attractive to a younger audience.

For years, the sport of mixed martial arts, most prominently the UFC, has been growing its core fan base, which had been content to buy branded products like t-shirts, hats and other easy-to-produce materials.  Now, Fathead, which makes oversize wall graphics, and Round 5, which produces collectible figurines, have made separate agreements with the UFC to create items with which more mainstream sports have already connected.

The Fatheads, which measure 27 inches wide by 74 inches tall, include popular champions Brock Lesnar, Georges St-Pierre, Anderson Silva and B.J. Penn, as well as contenders Jon Jones, Junior Dos Santos and Nate Marquardt.

Round 5 has created nearly 30 figurines to date, including all of the top UFC stars, plus Gina Carano, the most popular women’s fighter, Kimbo Slice and “Big John” McCarthy, the legendary referee.

For the past couple of weeks, coaches, administrators and fans at dozens of small schools have been looking at standings, figuring out what they need to do to earn the #2 seed or #4 seed, or to avoid that first-round opponent they don’t want to face.  If we win two, and this team loses one, and the other team wins another, we can get the six seed and not have to face #1 until the final.

Conference tournaments take on a life of their own.  The teams all get together for the banquet the night before the tournament, receive season awards, listen to a few speeches, all the while preparing for the all-or-nothing battles that these small-conference events produce, especially the ones like the Northeast Conference where the finals are held at the higher seed’s home gym.  There is often a #7 upending a #2 or some other unexpected result, and every so often, one of those teams that won 10 or 11 games finds its way into the final and on ESPN.

I’m looking forward to the small-conference events (starting with the Big South on Saturday at 4 p.m. on ESPN 2 — Go UNC Asheville!) more than the big conference tournaments for that pure-sport aspect that every game has.  Though most of the names and many of the schools will be new to some fans, the energy and emotion in the gyms more than make up for it.

• Ichiro Suzuki’s 10th 200-hit season
• Alex Rodriguez’s 600th home run (17 away)
• Trevor Hoffman’s 600th save (nine away)
• Juan Pierre’s 500th stolen base (41 away)

Anyone care to play “which does not belong?”

What Ichiro has done in the States is nothing short of amazing.  Start with breaking George Sisler’s 84-year-old single-season hit record in ‘04, and now you look up and he’s been putting up 200+ hits for nine years.  This is after his nine-year career in Japan.  And at 35, he had one of his best seasons in 2009.  Insane.

ARod’s 600th was once thought to be a century mark on the way to maybe 800-plus, and he may yet get there, although he’d have to hit 30 a year for seven more years for the Yankees.  And with last year’s steroids revelations, and the general lack of acceptance of “steroid era” home run totals, maybe fans might not be as interested or excited.  You can bet the YES Network will be, though.

Hoffman is the all-time saves leader, and what he’s accomplished has been great.  Sports Illustrated once anointed him the best closer ever (think they might need to revisit that?).  But saves are a funny stat:  some are much easier than others, and the “tough” saves in the biggest situations have sometimes eluded Hoffman.  I recall Scott Brosius taking him over the wall in Game 3 in the ‘98 series and the Padres’ painful season-ending loss to the Brewers which knocked them out of the playoffs in ‘07.  There’s the All-Star game in ‘06 also, for a third high-profile blown save.  I respect his Hall of Fame career, but maybe not the milestone save numbers.

The most (only) interesting thing about Pierre’s milestone is that I would never have thought he had close to that many steals.  Otherwise, there must not be too many other round numbers within reach this year for this to make the list.

I voted for the Ichiro accomplishment, though I think Rodriguez’s chase for 600 will get more fanfare.

Go here to cast your ballot (free registration required).

Fine. He didn’t get the full $14 million, let alone $23 million.  But, with maybe one or two other suitors left, neither sounding particularly motivated to sign Damon, Boras was able to extricate $8 million from the Tigers for one year.  Boras is a master at creating a market where there may not be one (does anyone really believe that Damon’s wife preferring Chicago was going to keep him from signing for more money with Detroit?)  We’ll have to wait until next off-season and his 2011 contract to see if Damon ended up leaving money on the table, but if he puts up decent numbers for the Tigers, he’ll be in position to match or exceed that number next year.

Looking at it from a baseball standpoint, the deal makes great sense for the Tigers.  Damon fills the hole at the leadoff spot in the lineup, while also offering a defensive improvement over the Tigers’ other options in left field, Carlos Guillen and Ryan Raburn.

The Damon signing also signals to the Tigers and their fans that, despite unloading Edwin Jackson and Curtis Granderson in the off-season, getting several major-league-ready prospects from the Yankees and Diamonbacks in return, the team is still committed to winning this year.  Damon’s leadership will also help the other newcomers fit in with veterans Guillen, Magglio Ordonez, Miguel Cabrera and Brandon Inge.