New York sports legends who auctioned off their iconic memorabilia

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00:00U.S. Olympic diving legend Greg Louganis, who is known as the greatest diver in Olympic history,

00:07sold his California home in three of his legendary Olympic medals because he said that he needed the

00:12money to be able to start a new life overseas. The athletes sell their trophies, rings, and most

00:18prized memorabilia for a myriad of reasons ranging from hard times financially to charity. So here's

00:25our list of famous former New York pro athletes who've parted ways with some memorable memorabilia

00:31for whatever reason. Mets outfielder Lenny Dykstra. Due to some post-retirement hardships and debt,

00:38Lenny had to sell some of his most legendary memorabilia from his career. In October of 2009,

00:44he put up 11 items for auction and they sold for more than $162,000 and that included the 1986 World

00:53Series championship ring he earned when he was with the Mets. Now the ring was auctioned off for

00:59$56,762.50. Nets and NBA legend Dr. J redefined how basketball was played. My man won two ABA

01:11championships and one NBA championship, but he also got into some financial trouble post-career

01:17when the Georgia bank filed a lawsuit against him seeking a repayment of a defaulted

01:22$200,000 loan. Dr. J used that money to buy a golf course and he then had to auction off his three

01:30rings and some other sports memorabilia to get back on his feet. In total, all the items that were

01:36auctioned earned a reported $3.5 million. Giants and NFL legend Lawrence Taylor's Super Bowl ring

01:44sold for more than $230,000 at auction. Now LT didn't put the ring up on auction himself because he needed

01:52the money. Now it was reported by Fox Sports Jay Glazer that the former linebacker had given the

01:58championship ring to his son TJ who could do whatever he wanted with it and that was fine with LT that TJ

02:06decided to sell that ring. Mets legend Darryl Strawberry owed back taxes to the IRS and the government

02:13ended up suing him in 2007 for a half a million dollars. To square up the debt, the IRS auctioned off

02:20the deferred money from Strawberry's 1990 team option with the team. Now an anonymous buyer bought the

02:26contract at auction for $1.3 million for the deferred money and ended up receiving $8,891.82

02:35every month for over 18 years from the government. Talk about return on investment. Lastly, former Giants

02:43wide receiver Plaxico Burris sold the Super Bowl ring. He won as a member of the Giants 2007

02:49squad that beat the then undefeated Patriots in Super Bowl 42 for a whopping $280,600 by Heritage

02:59auctions. Plax caught the game-winning touchdown in that Super Bowl and because of that the more than

03:04$280,000 price became the second most expensive Super Bowl ring ever sold. Second to Baltimore head

03:12coach Don McCafferty's Super Bowl 5 ring that was auctioned in 2022 for $300,000. Now I still have my

03:21ring from that 2007 Super Bowl but I did pawn my 2010 CFL Grey Cup ring because I too hit some hard

03:29times financially post-retirement. I mean it is what it is. Don't feel bad for me. I'm living now. But out of

03:35the five players that I just mentioned, if you had the money, which memorabilia would you try and buy

03:41an auction to add to your collection.