The “baggy green” worn in 1928 on the Test debut of Australia’s greatest batsman, Donald Bradman, has sold for A$450,000 (US$340,000), a record for one of the cricket legend’s caps.
Bradman, who retired with an all-time highest Test batting average of 99.94, wore the cap during the first match of his Test career against England.
Pickles Auction House yesterdray said that the baggy green had been bought by businessman Peter Freedman, who is the Australian founder of RODE Microphones, after initially failing to sell under the hammer.
Photo: AP
“After negotiations, the final bid and highest offer was the A$450,000,” Pickles executive manager Gavin Dempsey said. “It’s still, for a Bradman cap, on record the highest price paid on the open market.”
In June, Freeman spent US$6 million on a guitar played by grunge rock icon Kurt Cobain, making it the most expensive guitar in history.
Freedman said that he would put Bradman’s cap on display around Australia, similar to global tour plans he previously announced for the Nirvana frontman’s guitar.
“All too often, memorabilia such as this ends up spending its life on the wall of some board room or in some basement bar of a well-heeled sports fanatic,” Freedman said in a statement. “I want as many people to enjoy it as possible.”
Bradman had gifted the cap to his neighbor, accountant Peter Dunham, who local media reported was jailed in May for eight years over a multimillion-dollar fraud.
Pickles said the cap was sold on behalf of an insolvency firm seeking to recoup some of the investors’ losses.
The latest sale exceeds the A$425,000 paid for the cap worn by Bradman in his final Test in 1948.
Bradman died in 2001 at the age of 92.
However, it fell well below the A$1 million paid for spin legend Shane Warne’s baggy green when it was auctioned off to help Australian bushfire victims earlier this year.
Home runs are greeted with a celebratory shot of espresso and the donning of an Armani jacket. Victories are marked with bottles of red wine while the soaring voice of opera singer Andrea Bocelli echoes through the locker room. Welcome to baseball, Italian-style. Written off as 80-1 underdogs before the World Baseball Classic started, Italy’s fairytale tournament has carried them all the way to today’s (Taipei time) semi-finals in Miami against Venezuela. On Saturday, Italy — who scored a stunning upset of a star-studded US lineup during the pool phase — kept their unbeaten campaign alive with a nail-biting 8-6
Jannik Sinner on Sunday beat Daniil Medvedev in the Indian Wells final 7-6 (6), 7-6 (4), winning seven straight points to rally from a 4-0 deficit in the second-set tiebreak and claim the title without dropping a single set. The No. 2-ranked Italian beat Medvedev for the ninth time in their last 10 matches to claim his first title at the California desert tournament. Medvedev handed top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz his first loss of the year in the semi-finals of the BNP Paribas Open. Sinner congratulated fellow Italian Kimi Antonelli, who won Formula One’s Chinese Grand Prix earlier on Sunday. “It
Luka Doncic on Monday scored 36 points as the in-form Los Angeles Lakers powered to their sixth straight victory with a 100-92 defeat of the Houston Rockets. A crucial showdown between the third and fourth-ranked NBA Western Conference teams ended with the Lakers pulling away in the final minute of the fourth quarter to claim an impressive win on the road. The victory gives the Lakers (43-25) a valuable cushion over the Rockets (41-26) as they jostle for post-season positions in the West. Doncic was once again instrumental in dragging the Lakers over the line while a hard-nosed defensive effort
THRILLING GAME: The loaded US roster featuring Paul Skenes, Bryce Harper and Aaron Judge reached their third straight WBC final game, after 2017 and 2023 Gunnar Henderson and Roman Anthony on Sunday homered, and the US limited the Dominican Republic’s electric offense to win a thrilling semi-final 2-1 and move one win from capturing their second World Baseball Classic (WBC) championship. The loaded US roster led by NL Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes and featuring stars Bryce Harper and Aaron Judge reached their third straight WBC title game after winning in 2017 and falling to Shohei Ohtani and Japan in 2023. The US are to face the winner of this morning’s (Taiwan time) semi-final between Italy and Venezuela a day later. The Dominicans reached
RSS