Memorabilia

Lakers fans aren't letting the recession rein in their parade. Los Angeles sports retailers are reporting record sales as adoring fans snap up championship T-shirts, hats and flags. The outpouring of pride is more than welcome for business owners, who have been fighting a down economy for months. "Winning a championship seems to be curing a lot of people's blues," said Sean Ryan, vice president of merchandise for Anschutz Entertainment Group, owner and operator of Staples Center.

The suit O.J. Simpson wore the day he was acquitted of murder charges hangs in the bedroom closet of a house south of Fresno. Or maybe it doesn't. It depends on the mood of the balding, bespectacled former sports agent who owns the house and maybe the suit. "I've had it in my possession since the morning after the verdict," Mike Gilbert declared at the start of a recent interview. Twenty minutes of circuitous conversation later, he backtracked: "When I told you that before, I wasn't under oath."

On a damp evening in September at Denver's Coors Field, Barry Bonds, Major League Baseball's career home run leader, hit No. 762 into the seats in left-center field. If he never hits another, that ball could be worth $1 million, according to memorabilia experts. Once it turns up. No one has seen the historic ball since the unidentified fan who got it disappeared into the night.

For 20 years, Oran Z. Belgrave has been looking for that box. It's the one the first black G.I. Joe doll came in back in the mid-1960s. He'll pay $200 when he finds it. But that's it -- really it. Belgrave isn't looking to buy more things. His obsession with collecting African American-themed antiques and memorabilia has consumed the better part of his life, and now, Belgrave said, "I have to hold myself down." His place is so crammed, a person can barely walk through it.

One last chorus of "Thanks for the Memories" echoed across Bob Hope's battered office desk and joke-writers' table Monday. Mementos from his 70 years of showmanship went on display in Beverly Hills as Hope's family gathered the entertainer's favorite golf clubs, hats, signed presidential letters and thousands of other personal items in preparation for a weekend auction.

The judge overseeing efforts to collect a $33.5-million civil judgment against O.J. Simpson said Friday that he will hold a hearing next month to investigate allegations that the NFL star's valuable Hall of Fame ring is in the possession of a memorabilia dealer he was recently convicted of kidnapping. A lawyer for Fred Goldman, whose son was slain alongside Simpson's ex-wife in 1994, said a Las Vegas prosecutor informed him Monday that Simpson gave Alfred Beardsley the ring.

The votes are in, and it's bad news for John McCain. Barack Obama has a big lead in the sale of campaign buttons and other election paraphernalia, outselling McCain 3 to 1 on one memorabilia website. An Obama victory could make some of those pieces more valuable, experts say, given the historic nature of his candidacy. A button from the launch of Obama's presidential campaign sold for $150 in August at the American Political Items Collectors National Convention.

Much as Barack Obama has kindled unprecedented interest in presidential politics, so too has he prompted a flood of merchandise, collectibles, television deals and book contracts. Presidents have always inspired such capitalism. But marketing experts say the historic nature of this election and the strong brand that the Illinois senator's campaign cultivated have sparked incredible demand for all things Obama.

A delivery driver drops a stack of packages in the lobby of the Los Angeles Sports Museum. What's in them? "I don't know," said Gary Cypres, founder and curator of the downtown museum that will open to the public on Nov. 28. "Let's find out." And, with boyish delight, he tears open the top package. It is a baseball for the 65-year-old businessman's already substantial Joe DiMaggio collection.

After 38 years, a "lost" Hollywood artifact with a truly cosmic history has resurfaced and, no surprise, it's headed straight for the auction block. On Thursday, the iconic flying saucer from the 1956 MGM classic "Forbidden Planet" will be auctioned in Calabasas Hills and is expected to fetch between $80,000 and $120,000, which would be a nice payday for its owner, a North Carolina man who had the prop stored in his garage and didn't realize its market value.