Roger Clemens-Mike Piazza 2000 World Series broken bat draws $47,800 at auction

The broken bat that Roger Clemens infamously flung in the direction of Mike Piazza during the 2000 World Series was auctioned this weekend for $47,800.

The winning bidder asked to remain anonymous, a Heritage Auctions spokesman said Sunday. The auction house initially expected the bat to go for around $10,000.

Former Yankees strength coach Jeff Mangold, who sold the bat, said in an interview this month that he noticed immediately after that World Series Game 2 ended that Piazza's broken bat was headed for the trash and thought it was too meaningful to be thrown away.

So Mangold said he took it home and displayed it in his home office for 13 years.

He said the sawed-off barrel of Piazza's Mizuno Pro bat still has Yankee Stadium dirt stuck in its end because, after Clemens threw it toward Piazza while he was running down the first-base line, the bat took a few bounces before getting stuck in the grass.

"I've had it for 13 years, mainly in the office here at the house," said Mangold, of Oakland, N.J. "It's time for it to move on."

Mangold said he decided to sell it now to help pay for his children's college tuition. He also said he planned to make a contribution to the CJ Foundation for SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), saying that he lost a daughter at just 21/2 months old in 1991.

Mangold was the strength coach for the Yankees from 1984-88 and again from 1998-2006, and for the Mets from 1993-96. He said he's done Google searches over the years to see if anyone ever wondered about the bat's whereabouts.

"There was no mention of it, just no mention of it at all," Mangold said. "Just a handful of friends of mine know about it. I wasn't out to show it off or anything. It was just something that was known among our family. Very strange, for all these years, nobody ever mentioned. The Hall of Fame never inquired about it. No one did."

Until, of course, he decided to sell it.