Wilmington widow’s Willie Stargell auction fetches $480,000

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — An auction of memorabilia owned by late baseball great Willie Stargell raked in nearly half a million dollars.

Stargell’s widow, Margaret Weller-Stargell of Wilmington, put the 20 items up for auction last month. Stargell’s children were against the sale. They said their father would have preferred the items go into museum collections instead of private holdings.

The online auction, which began May 24, closed yesterday morning fetching more than $481,000, according to the prices listed on SCPAuctions.com.

Stargell’s 1979 National League MVP Award brought in the most money. It sold for $103,567 after an opening bid of $25,000.

Other items sold included personal trophies from the Pittsburgh Pirates 1971 and 1979 World Series victories, Stargell’s 1979 World Series ring and his 1988 National Baseball Hall of Fame induction ring.

Weller-Stargell disputed her stepchildren’s claims that they were blindsided by the sale. She said they knew since he died that Stargell had left the items to her in his will.

Weller-Stargell said a portion of the proceeds from the auction will go to the Willie Stargell Foundation, which helps people suffering from kidney disease. She said she will also give some of the money to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and the Pirates Charities.

Stargell died in Wilmington in 2001.

The online auction that included the Stargell items had another Wilmington connection: A record-setting sale of sneakers Laney alum Michael Jordan wore in the 1984 Olympics gold-medal game.