NEW YORK (AP) A collection of original baseball art created by celebrated sports artist LeRoy Neiman has sold for nearly $500,000 at auction.
The 129 art-decorated baseballs were made over 30 years for Neiman's friend Charlie McCabe, a bank marketing executive. Most were done in colored magic marker and captured some of baseball's greatest players.
Heritage Auctions says the top-selling ball depicted artwork of Marilyn Monroe and was signed by Joe DiMaggio, Monroe's second husband. It sold for $95,600.
A baseball illustrating Bobby Thomson's ''shot heard round the world'' sold for $26,680.
Thomson's homer clinched the National League pennant in 1951.
Altogether, the online sale that ended early Saturday fetched a total of $491,748.
Neiman died in 2012. He was known for evoking the kinetic energy of the world's biggest sporting events.
