Colts owner Jim Irsay pays $2.1 million for Beatles bass drum (really)
Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay has added another prized possession to his collection.
And no, not another high-priced free agent. An iconic piece of music history.
Irsay bought The Beatles’ bass drum head played by Ringo Starr in 1964, including the band’s United States debut on “The Ed Sullivan Show” for the breathtaking price of $2.125 million — or, slightly less than the Colts paid for Todd Herremans this offseason — according to the Indianapolis Star.
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(Insert joke about Irsay saving money on Pep Hamilton.)
That’s a seven-digit price tag. For a bass drum.
You know the drum:
Fitting for an owner whose motto appears to be, “All you need is Luck.” (Thanks, Jay Busbee, for that gem!)
We kid, of course. The guitar-strumming, free-spirited Irsay is a music aficionado, often quoting Bob Dylan and John Lennon in meetings with the media, and his collection of music memorabilia is amazing. When Indianapolis hosted the Super Bowl in 2012, Irsay’s private holdings were on display, and his guitar collection blew minds.
Irsay owns multiple guitars from Lennon, Dylan, Jerry Garcia (the prized “Tiger”), Les Paul (“Black Beauty”), Elvis Presley, George Harrison, Stephen Stills and other rock icons. Also from Irsay’s collection: the original manuscript from Jack Kerouac’s “On The Road.” All told, his collection is worth millions of dollars.
But Irsay did miss out on a Lennon guitar that was up at the same Julien’s auction as the Starr drum, going to an anonymous bidder for $2.41 million. So why did Irsay, a guitar guy, go for the drum?
“Jim’s logic was sound,” said Chris McKinney, the curator of Irsay’s collectibles. “If you showed the guitar to 20 people, one might recognize what it is. If you show the drum head to 20 people, most will be able to identify with it.”
There are multiple versions of the iconic drum head. Paul McCartney has the first in the series, and now Irsay has edition No. 2.
Irsay typically gets what he wants, which means no current Colt — other than Andrew Luck — should feel too comfy about their place on the team after this season, even after Sunday’s big win.
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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Eric_Edholm
