1928 World series ball to go to new home

STAMFORD, Conn. (WTNH) -- A piece of baseball history that has spent most of the last century tucked away in Connecticut is going to be auctioned off.

A Stamford family is parting with their treasure to pay a big bill.

It was the moment immortalized in the Gary Cooper film, "Pride of the Yankees."

The 1928 World Series. Legendary Yankee slugger Lou Gehrig puts one over the fence to help lead the New York Yankees to a win over the St. Louis Cardinals.

At the time, the papers called his homer in game two the most significant home run to date because of the Hall of Famers involved. Pitching legend Grover Cleveland Alexander was on the mound for the Cardinals and Babe Ruth was on base.

That ball went right for the hands of a man named Buddy Kurland from Manchester. Someone knocked his cap over his eyes and he dropped it. The person who came up with it felt sorry for him and gave him the ball.

"I just had it sitting in a drawer," said Elizabeth Gott. "And I was thinking it's gonna get lost one of these days and it should really be in the hands of someone who is a true collector."

Buddy Kurland's great niece, Gott, is from Stamford, and that ball has been passed down for generations in her family.

For years it sat on display in her great uncle's store, Metter's Smoke Shop in Manchester.

Now, Gott's son is graduating medical school with 200 grand in debt. And they decided it's time for the ball to go.

"We would have liked to kept it in the family, but finances are necessary to finance the debt and my son reluctantly decided it was time," said Gott.

The ball will be auctioned off Tuesday at the All-Star Fanfest in Kansas City.

They are already taking online bids.

Predictions are it could pay those tuition bills and more.

It's enough to make a sports memorabilia collector drool at the mouth.

"If you're a Yankees fan, that's one of the holy grails," said Paul Salerno, A Timeless Journey owner. "Those are three Hall of Fame players that were involved in this game. Plus it's a World Series game and it was a significant game in the World Series back in 1928, so this is a very valuable piece of memorabilia."

For the Gott family the sale is bitter sweet. The end of one chapter and the beginning of another.

"We hope it goes into someone's hands that loves the Yankees just as much as our family does," Gott said.

If you'd like to bid on the historic baseball visit the auction page .