Less than a month after the death of Pope Francis, a baseball signed by the late Catholic leader sold for $18,750 at RR Auctions.
Randy Kaplan, a prolific collector of baseballs from world leaders, ranging from Vladimir Putin to Donald Trump, consigned the ball to auction months prior to the Pope’s death.
It took Kaplan years of trying to get Pope Francis to sign a ball for his collection, attempting to use ambassadors and the Holy See, to no avail. Finally, Kaplan struck up a friendship with Cardinal Peter Turkson, and the connection successfully got the ball signed.
Kaplan is a prospector of sorts, having multiple other balls signed by Cardinals in his collection, just in case they were elected Pope.
As for the new American-born Pope Leo, he was not on Kaplan’s radar. “My quest begins,” he told cllct following the first American pontiff's election last week.
There are very few baseballs signed by Popes known to exist, and even fewer to have sold at public auction.
RR Auctions has sold two other Pope Francis-signed balls previously, one for $18,181 in 2021 and another for $17,125 in 2022. A Pope Benedict XVI ball fetched $9,335 in 2015.
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct, the premier company for collectible culture.