The business of champagne celebrations is certainly a fascinating topic and the John Branch of the New York Times does a great job in today's paper on the subject.

The most interesting part of the article comes from Chris Westmoreland, the Tampa Bay Rays' clubhouse and equipment manager, who among other things, has decided that all empty champagne bottles and their popped corns will be authenticated with Major League Baseball holograms.

It's a good idea, but we should all remember that these items were worth a lot more when people didn't think about collectors.

At the end of the article, Branch touches on a celebration that didn't happen and for some reason picks the 1985 World Series and the St. Louis Cardinals. The most famous celebration that didn't happen was, of course, the following year when the Red Sox were one strike away from winning the World Series, up by two runs in the bottom of the tenth. We know what happened next (think Mookie Wilson and Bill Buckner). The champagne was put away and never got used after the Mets won Game 7 in Boston.

But there is at least one existing, unopened bottle of "Cranberry Blush" champagne from the Commonwealth Winery that says "Boston Red Sox 1986 Champions."

Source: seth.com

It is owned by Seth Swirsky, who I consider to be the greatest collector of obscure and interesting baseball memorabilia. Swirsky told me he bought the champagne bottle around the same time he purchased the actual Buckner ball, whose original owner was Charlie Sheen.

"I was at an auction and it seemed like this item was being bypassed by everyone," Swirsky said. "I think I bought it for like $200 or something."

Swirsky says he suspects that all the other bottles were destroyed because he's never seen another one.

If you are interested in seeing one of the coolest collections, that is documented very well, check out Swirsky's web site.

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