Baseball -- Collectibles Sale Angers Dimaggio's Old Friends

NEW YORK - Joe DiMaggio's legacy of "Dignity, Grace and Elegance Personified," inscribed on his Bay Area tombstone, might well have two words added: For Sale.

Last week, a huge cache of DiMaggio memorabilia hit the market, after the controversial gatekeeper of the Yankee Clipper's estate, Morris Engelberg, sold it to Charlotte-based collector Ralph Perullo for an estimated $3 million to $3.5 million. No sooner had Perullo sealed the deal than he was out pushing the trove at a Philadelphia card show. Considering the voluminous amounts of DiMaggio-autographed memorabilia, it appears the Yankee Clipper spent a great portion of his final years as anything but a retired senior citizen.

But it was the speed and impressive contents of the Perullo transaction - which included 68 commemorative baseballs signed on DiMaggio's deathbed during his final six-month battle with lung cancer - that raised eyebrows among collectors and shocked DiMaggio's friends.

DiMaggio was proud of his carefully crafted signature, which he always tried to sign on the ball's sweet spot in a flowing script, but the last balls he signed reflect his weakened state.

"It's really sad to see that scrawled, weak signature," said a prominent memorabilia dealer who nevertheless purchased one of the balls at the convention. "Joe was always so proud of his autograph."

"This is so horrible," said longtime friend Bert Padell, DiMaggio's former business manager. "I can't understand why Joe would ever have agreed to sign those balls. To sign it just to sell it? For what?"

The autographed balls were being offered for between $1,200 and $1,500 each. They came with certificates of authenticity from Engelberg, who said these were the last pieces of memorabilia DiMaggio signed.

Engelberg would not respond directly when asked about the autographs. Through his law partner, Jerry Cantor, he explained that the balls were "signed at the suggestion of Joe's physical therapist, who thought it would give him something to do, some hope."

Perullo said of the signed balls, "Morris was right by his side when he signed them. . . . Joe was feeling pretty good one day. He said, `Let me sign some balls.' . . . Joe insisted."

The deathbed balls gave ammunition to critics of Engelberg's handling of the estate. One of those critics is DiMaggio's brother, Dominic.

Engelberg, Dominic DiMaggio said, "had powers so broad, I was flabbergasted Joe gave them to him. But for some reason he did."

Dominic also criticized Engelberg's handling of DiMaggio's medical care in his final months, when he was hospitalized at Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, Fla.

"I've always felt he could've received better medical treatment in another hospital" Dominic said.

The Yankee legend's younger brother said he became so exasperated that he flew a specialist from Boston's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to evaluate DiMaggio. "I'm convinced if I hadn't done that," Dominic said, "Joe would have never gotten home," where he died March 8.

Dominic DiMaggio, however, said he has no interest in challenging his brother's will, which named Engelberg as sole trustee and gives the attorney complete control of DiMaggio memorabilia.

But ugly legal fights loom.

Engelberg's law firm represents Yankee Clipper Enterprises, DiMaggio's company, in a suit against a New Jersey memorabilia dealer, B&J Collectibles. The suit in Florida's Broward County Court alleges that B&J breached a contract with DiMaggio, and later accused B&J of selling balls and caps with forged DiMaggio signatures. B&J denies the allegations.

The legal battles didn't dampen Perullo's enthusiasm, however. He says he saw an item in Engelberg's Florida office that elicited at least one collector's interest: DiMaggio's deathbed.

Engelberg refused the offer.

"It's a neurological chair, and it's being given to Memorial Hospital," he said.