Aaron Siepierski is way too young to remember Denny McLain and the 1968 World Series win by the Detroit Tigers, but he is learning more by the day.
Siepierski, who owns Aaron’s Estate Sales based in Birmingham, is working side-by-side with the 76-year-old McLain to set up an estate sale Oct. 2-4 at McLain’s home in Wixom.
“We’re going through boxes, tubs, storage closets and garages,’ Siepierski said. “A lot of the things he hadn’t seen in years, so it’s still exciting.”
Among the thousands of items that will be for sale include McLain’s entire sports collection which includes many, many other players. It’s not just baseball memorabilia, also hockey and football and his personal belongings.
“There’s a lot of 1968 World Series original things, there’s a lot of signed balls and there’s bats, there’s signed hockey sticks, just a range of things,” Siepierski said.
“Thirty minutes ago we just found a 1953 Tigers program that’s signed by Al Kaline. All sorts of cool stuff,” he added.
Included in the cool stuff is a photo of Ted Williams and Mickey Mantle, autographed by both. Also an autographed Hall of Fame print of Hank Aaron, another Mickey Mantle signed photo and a baseball card collection.
Siepierski said the sale is for professionals and regular fans too.
“I think there’s something for everyone,” Siepierski said. “There’s something for a serious collector to get that one-of-a-kind item you can’t get any more and then there’s something for the modern sports collector that’s looking for a special pieces for their collection.”
Some of the items are invaluable. They will use auction databases to check what signature items have sold for.
“On one-of-a-kind special items we’ll see where it lands,” Siepierski said.
McLain pitched for the Detroit Tigers from 1963 to 1970. In 1968 when the Tigers won the World Series, McLain (31-6) was named the American League MVP and he was the Cy Young Award winner in 1968 and 1969.
The sale will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Oct. 2-4, at the McLain home in Wixom. For more information, including the address, and photos of sale items, go to AaronsEstateSales.com.
