Celebrate the Unusual with Sports Memorabilia

When choosing a gift of sports memorabilia for the sports fan in your life, take a few moments to consider his tastes. Sports memorabilia often celebrates sports heroes, and autographed photos of winners, signed baseball cards and game balls from big games are all popular sports memorabilia gifts. But there’s more to sports than winning, and many sports memorabilia collectors set their sights on items that commemorate a particular type of moment.

The “Wide World of Sports” used to highlight “the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat” in its opening montage each week. Sports buffs often remember iconic moments in sports history with true fervor. Those moments fall into three categories. You’ll have no trouble finding photos that celebrate the moments of victory such as Bobby Orr sailing through the air after scoring the winning goal, or Jackie Robinson sliding into home plate with the ump in the background declaring him safe. Sports buffs who love to celebrate their team’s heroes and winners will proudly hang a signed team photo of their championship team on their brag wall.

You won’t find as many photos and pieces of sports memorabilia that commemorate the losses, but they exist. A Red Sox fan, for example, will never forget Bill Buckner not fielding a grounder in a 1983 World Series game. Autographed photos of Buckner aren’t hard to find, but you may have more trouble finding Buck’s autograph on a photo of him missing that ball. They’re out there, if you know where to look. A golfing fan might love the iconic photo of Arnold Palmer handing off a $50 bill to Jack Nicklaus in payment for losing his bet on their golf match.

The third type of memorabilia celebrates odd and quirky moments in sports—those times and events that often make the morning news and leave sports fans shaking their heads. Team allegiance doesn’t really matter for those who collect this type of memorabilia because it’s the moment that counts. These are games that make the news in every city because they strike a chord for all sports fans or raise questions like the football coach who called a timeout to clear the field of snow, the pro golfer whose drive takes a crazy loop and hits a camera lens—these are the moments that become legends. A guy who loves the quirky, odd moments in sports, on the other hand, may truly appreciate a photo that commemorates the Pine Tar Bat baseball game of 1983, when George Brett’s bat sparked a rules controversy that forced a game replay nearly two months after the original game.

Sports memorabilia makes a great gift for Father’s Day, Christmas or a birthday, but take the time to make it extra special by choosing a memorabilia item that has a special meaning for your sports fan.