This and three other pictures on the eBay auction page show the Beijing2008 autographed game ball that fans can bid on until September 19th.

AUTOGRAPHED SOFTBALL ON EBAY
2009-09-09

The International Softball Federation has just started a ten-day auction on the popular website eBay. Known on there as intl_softball_fed, the world governing body has posted for bidding a unique collector’s item from last year’s Olympic softball competition in China.

The winner will receive a (new) ball made (by Mizuno) for use in the 2008 Olympic softball competition in Beijing.  As such, as seen in the photos in the online listing, the Beijing2008 logo appears on the ball.

Furthermore, this ball has been autographed by three athletes that played in last year's Olympic softball games: Jessica Mendoza (USA, silver medalist), Danielle Stewart (Australia, bronze medalist), and Rubilena (Ruby) Rojas (Venezuela).  PLUS, two-time Olympic softball gold medalist (pitcher, Michele Smith, Team USA, 1996 & 2000), who was a commentator on NBC's broadcasts of the 2008 Olympic softball games, has autographed the ball as well.

In addition, the winning bidder will also receive the stand that the ball is shown sitting on in the photos in the auction’s listing.  Made (by Mizuno) exclusively for this purpose, they are (three) miniature wooden bats with Beijing 2008 (and the Mizuno logo/name) on each one.

Proceeds from the auction go for the same purpose as donations made through the homepage of the BackSoftball campaign’s website homepage (click on the link alongside the Make A Donation button for a pop-up window explaining how the contribution helps).