A Yankees collectible with real October DNA is up for grabs, and this one comes with an All-Star twist.
Mynt Auctions has listed a game-used baseball from the 2010 MLB All-Star Game that was signed by Derek Jeter and Andy Pettitte, linking two members of the Yankees’ Core Four to one piece of memorabilia. The ball includes MLB and Steiner authentication, according to the listing, and the auction house has tagged it as pre-owned and game-used with Steiner Sports listed as the autograph authenticator.
The estimate sits at $1,846 to $2,399, with bidding opening at $930.
What makes the item stand out is not just the signatures, but the setting. The ball comes from the 2010 All-Star Game, played July 13 at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, when Jeter and Pettitte were both representing New York less than a year after helping the Yankees win their 27th World Series championship.
That game had a heavy Yankees feel from the start. Jeter was in the lineup at shortstop, Robinson Cano started at second base, and Alex Rodriguez, Nick Swisher, Phil Hughes, Pettitte, Mariano Rivera and CC Sabathia were all selected from the defending champions. The National League won 3-1, ending the American League’s long unbeaten streak in the event.
Pettitte threw a scoreless inning after American League starter David Price, and he was in the middle of a strong season. He finished 2010 at 11-3 with a 3.28 ERA over 21 starts, and his .786 winning percentage led the American League among pitchers with at least 10 decisions.
The ball also ties together two very different Yankees careers. Jeter never left, spending all 20 of his major league seasons in New York and retiring after 2014 as the franchise’s career hits leader. Pettitte took a different route, pitching three seasons for his hometown Houston Astros before returning to the Yankees, then retiring after 2010, coming back in 2012 and wrapping up his career after the 2013 season.
Their overlap mattered most in October. Jeter appeared in 158 career postseason games, while Pettitte became the winningest pitcher in postseason history with 19 playoff victories.
There’s also the timing. This All-Star Game came about eight months after Jeter and Pettitte celebrated the Yankees’ 2009 World Series title. New York won 95 games in 2010 before falling to the Texas Rangers in the American League Championship Series, putting this ball at a neat historical crossroads: after the most recent championship, but before the Core Four era finally started to fade.
For collectors, that’s the selling point. The estimate is higher than the $1,261 to $1,639 range attached to another Jeter-signed baseball from his 2,000th-hit game that surfaced through the same auction house. But this one brings together two signatures, game use and a clear event from a season when both men were still teammates.
The Core Four - Jeter, Pettitte, Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada - helped define a Yankees stretch that included championships in 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2009, though Pettitte spent 2004 through 2006 with Houston. Even now, their names still carry real weight in the Bronx. This baseball is another reminder of why.
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