Sports Memorabilia can either have a sentimental or monetary value to the collector. Many items used by famous sports stars or at a famous event have been sold for many dollars at auctions such as Sotheby's and others. The ball that Mark McGwire hit for home-run number 62 in 1998, for example, was sold for over 1 million dollars.

It could be said that collecting sports memorabilia goes back to the first decades of the 20th century, when many people would collect baseballs from baseball games and many asked Babe Ruth for autographs. As years passed and many other sports stars joined their sports, memorabilia collectors also began to broaden their horizons.