There are few moments or images in the history of Bay Area sports as indelible or as iconic as "The Catch." The pass from Joe Montana to Dwight Clark in the 1982 championship game ushered in the golden era of the 49ers that would last for over a decade and result in one of the most dominant football franchises of all time. Unbelievably, there is now a chance for you to own a piece of that moment for a fairly reasonable fee. If you are really, really good at deluding yourself, anyway.
Eric McErlain of The Daily Caller is reporting that Dwight Clark is auctioning off the ball from "The Catch" as a result of a bankruptcy settlement. The ball comes with a signed lithograph of late Niners coach Bill Walsh. The current high bid for the football and the lithograph is reportedly $5,000 but bids are being accepted until February 20.
That's the good news.
The bad news is that Clark has only had possession of this ball since 2005. Add to that the conflicting statement by a former 49ers ballboy that he sold the actual ball some time ago for $50,000 and you're left with a ball that is virtually impossible to verify as the one actually involved in the play. It's exceedingly likely that it isn't.
But Clark is apparently anxious to try to win the ball back himself and is urging friends not to bid on the item. So I guess if you really dislike Dwight Clark for some reason -- maybe he cut you off in traffic once or something -- you could place a high bid and really break his spirit. Then just boot the ball down a storm drain or something while he watches.
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