Online bidding for Barry Bonds' record-tying and –breaking home-run balls begins today, as Sotheby's and SoCal-based SCP Auctions ramp up for the mid-September sale. I don't happen to have an extra half million dollars lying around to bid on the #756 ball, but there's no shortage of amazing stuff to be found in the lavishly-illustrated catalogue (viewable online here). Like, the Lakers' 1986-87 championship banner that once hung in the Fabulous Forum (minimum bid: $5,000) and the retired #22 jersey of Elgin Baylor that also hung in the Forum (minimum bid: $3,000). Proceeds from the sale of these two items will benefit the Lakers Youth Foundation. Of course, you can also buy a pair of Phil Jackson's game-worn shorts from the 1970s, when he was playing for the Knicks (minimum bid: $100). And, boy, those were some short shorts.

SCP Auctions has emerged as one of the top companies in the ultra competitive sports-memorabilia field. The president of SCP, David Kohler, is himself a major collector; at his Orange County home, he's amassed what many consider to be the greatest individual collection of Lakers memorabilia. Last February, he and a partner bought, for a cool $2.35 million, the famous T206 Honus Wagner tobacco card.