Kathryn Nuttall
Yogi Berra Collector
Glen Ridge, NJ

On October 8, 1956, Don Larsen of the New York Yankees pitched the only perfect game in World Series history. It was a Subway Series played against the Brooklyn Dodgers, and both teams were packed with players who were destined to become legends.

Assuming the Yankees would win, a lot of corporate VIPs passed on available tickets, giving Kathryn Nuttall's father a chance to go. It was a game that always held a special place in his heart, and, some 40 years later, he was thrilled to have Larsen sign his program at a local personal appearance. He mused, "Wouldn't it be great to have the autographs of both the pitcher and the catcher?" That catcher was Yogi Berra.

By then, Kathryn was an adult living in Montclair, NJ, where Yogi had moved in 1958. She recalls, "I actually knew where he lived, but I had a strict policy against disturbing the privacy of pubic people. Then one day in 1997, I found his web site and wrote asking how to get the program autographed. Yogi responded that he wasn't doing any personal appearances, but he gave me a phone number and said one of his sons would pick it up. That's how I happened to find Dale Berra, a former hotshot for the Pirates at my door. The next week he brought it back to me, autographed."

Within days, Kathryn discovered eBay on the Internet and immediately purchased baseball cards of Don Larsen and Yogi Berra for her father. More memorabilia followed and, she says, "By the time I had the third book and the eighth photograph, I was collecting for me, not for my dad." Her 1,200-1,500 piece collection now includes signed first editions, newspapers, magazines, and newswire photographs, all of Yogi. Her favorite is a shot of him wearing some of his catcher's gear, looking back over his shoulder and grinning. "It's a million dollar smile," she says.

Kathryn estimates that she bought 98% of her collection on eBay, and it continues to grow, sometimes by as many as ten new items a day. She says eBay's massive quantity of merchandise is what keeps bringing her back. "Last year at the National Sports Collectors' convention they were selling only eight newswire photographs. Last week alone I bought eight on eBay. I might find 150 in a given week."

One item still eludes Kathryn. "In the '55 World Series," she says, "There was an incident in which Jackie Robinson stole home, and Yogi did this little dance of frustration. The photo commands a premium, and I saw it on eBay when I had the flu. I have a series of shots of that incident, but I hope I'll find that one once more on eBay."