Perhaps Pin Stripes Don’t Have the Old Mystique Anymore

“Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright. Baseball’s down in Georgia, and Southern hearts are light. And Blue Jay crowds are happy, and fans all over shout. But there is no joy in Collectorville, Mighty Christie’s has struck out!”

Kevin McCoy of Newsday writes that the famed New York auction house had what it advertised as its finest sports memorabilia sale Saturday.

But the star attraction--a 1937 home jersey worn by immortal Yankee first baseman Lou Gehrig--failed to fetch even the $200,000 minimum opening bid. Gehrig had plenty of company. A crowd of about 150 bidders also passed on a 1951 World Series road uniform worn by Yankee center fielder Joe DiMaggio.

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Add auction: There were, however, enough sales to satisfy the auction house and some collectors.

A painting of Jackie Robinson’s 1953 Topps baseball card went for $900. A 128-card set of 1954 football cards, featuring New York Giant Hall of Famer Frank Gifford, brought $850.

And a 1910 Honus Wagner baseball card, among the fewer than 40 known to exist, sold for $77,000.

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Trivia time: Who holds the World Series record for most home runs in a career?

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Head case: The NHL Players Assn. says Eric Lindros’ face on the Upper Deck card belongs to the Philadelphia Flyer rookie. But the body is one of his teammate’s.

Ted Saskin, director of licensing for the NHLPA, said the front of the card “contains a photo of Eric Lindros’ head placed on the body of a different Philadelphia Flyers player.”

Now it probably will be a valued collectors’ item in the future.

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Immune: Jim Harbaugh said he wasn’t devastated by Coach Mike Ditka’s recent sideline tirade after the Chicago Bear quarterback changed a play in a recent game against Minnesota that resulted in an intercepted pass for a touchdown.

“I played for Bo Schembechler and I was yelled at many times,” Harbaugh said of his former Michigan coach.

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Un-American: San Francisco Chronicle columnist Scott Ostler said it will take psychologists years to figure out why fans in Toronto and Atlanta behaved in an orderly fashion after their teams advanced to the World Series.

“I’m at loss to explain why taxis and police cars were not rolled over and set ablaze, why downtown stores were not looted and vandalized, why sidewalks were not jackhammered up and carted off as a souvenir of this memorable night,” Ostler writes.

“In short, why didn’t the World Series cities celebrate the good old American way?”

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Big talk: John Daly is renowned for his long drives. As such, he says he is challenged from time to time by some big guys.

“They say, ‘Come on, let’s go to the range. I can hit it past you,’ ” Daly told Golf World. “I tell them, ‘OK, if you got a hundred grand in your pocket, let’s go.’ And that’s the end of that.”

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Trivia answer: Mickey Mantle of the New York Yankees with 18.

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Quotebook: NBC’s Bud Collins on why senior tennis might be a more difficult proposition than senior golf: “You can play golf five years after you’ve been embalmed.”