The Yankees haven’t been fleeced like this since George Steinbrenner sent Jay Buhner to Seattle for Ken Phelps back in 1988.
Documents filed in Chicago federal court by attorneys for a sports memorabilia executive charged with fraud suggest now-defunct Mastro Auctions stole more than $30,000 from Yankee general managing partner Hal Steinbrenner through shill bidding.
According to the documents filed by lawyers for former Mastro president Doug Allen, the Yankee owner was gouged by Mastro Auctions as he bid on more than a dozen lots in 2007 and 2008. The court papers do not identify the items Steinbrenner bid on or purchased from Mastro Auctions, which offered vintage baseball cards and other sports memorabilia to affluent collectors before it went out of business in 2009, but a review of Mastro Auctions catalogues indicates the Yankee boss spent thousands of dollars on unopened packs of late ‘60s and early ‘70s Topps baseball cards.