Now They See Bid Picture
Nothing--not even Chick Hearn’s death--is so sacred people won’t try to make a buck off it.
The EBay auction site has experienced a surge in Hearn-related items since the longtime Laker announcer died Monday of complications from a head injury he suffered in a fall last week at his Encino home. Not surprisingly, the asking and selling prices of those items have soared.
On Saturday, about the time news of his first brain surgery became public, four items connected to Hearn were up for bid on the Internet auction service. By Sunday, as Hearn fought for his life after a second operation, the number of items for sale had climbed into the 70s.
By Tuesday afternoon, not even 24 hours after his death, the number of items for sale--bobble-head dolls, autographed basketballs, autographed Hollywood Walk of Fame cards and other memorabilia--had risen to 183.
The same type of bobble-head doll that sold for $17.90 on July 28--before Hearn’s fall and subsequent death--went for $125 on Monday and was selling for more than $150 on Tuesday. For most, the bidding had reached about $75, a tidy profit for an item that was given away to fans during the Lakers’ spring playoff series against San Antonio and later sold for $30 at Staples Center souvenir stands.
Three souvenir placards, distributed to fans at Staples Center on April 9 to celebrate Hearn’s return to the broadcast booth after heart and hip surgery, drew little interest before he died, getting one bid each before selling for $9.99 apiece.
Hours after Hearn’s death, an identical item got 23 bids and sold for $46.
A 12-inch vinyl rap record Hearn recorded in 1986 drew no bids at a starting price of $24.99 when it was originally put up for sale in an auction that ended July 28. It was listed again and drew 16 bids before it sold for $61 Monday. An autographed photo of Hearn sold for $1 on July 29; an autographed index card, without a photo, had hit $18 Tuesday night.
Hearn, no doubt, would have laughed.
