Bidding

Baltimore may move to curb the growing phenomenon of collection companies bidding imaginary money at the city's annual tax auction.City officials are discussing the possibility of requiring companies that buy the rights to acquire properties with delinquent taxes to put down more cash to show they are serious, said Zack Germroth, spokesman for the city housing department."

NEW YORK -- Dealers and collectors gobbled up sculptures, busts of Roman emperors and porcelains yesterday on the second day of the Haussner's restaurant auction, pushing the receipts from the sale to more than $11 million.Two hours of vigorous bidding at Sotheby's auction rooms netted $1.2 million for the 114 lots sold -- on top of $10.1 million spent Tuesday for paintings from the landmark Highlandtown restaurant.Pre-sale estimates had placed the value of the collection at around $7 million.

In a high-stakes battle of money and ego, the next round of offers for the Washington Redskins is due today in a bidding war that likely will lead to the highest price ever paid for a sports franchise in this country.New York banker Howard Milstein and Bethesda businessman Daniel M. Snyder have bid more than $700 million and now the other contenders, including current owner John Kent Cooke and Orioles owner Peter Angelos, have to decide whether to match or top it.When Milstein and Snyder made their bid last week, they said it would be on the table for one week.

THE SEMI-PUBLIC association that builds and runs recreational facilities in Columbia must make immediate changes to restore confidence that it is properly spending millions of dollars it collects yearly from homeowners in one of the nation's largest planned communities. A story in The Sun on Sunday revealed sloppiness in the Columbia Association's bidding process that makes it ripe for favoritism and waste.Most disturbing in reporter Dan Morse's article were revelations that officials falsified records to make it appear that contractors bid on projects when they had not. Sixteen contractors who told the reporter that they did not bid on the projects were listed as high bidders.

ONE ASPECT OF any renovation project that's absolutely the key to a decent (or at least not horrendous) experience is organization. The more planning you do, the less likely you are to be surprised -- and if you've ever been through a project before, you'll know that surprises on the job are rarely pleasant ones.The route to a happy outcome starts even before you first call a contractor to look at a job. Write down what it is you want done -- every single thing, even if it's as simple and obvious as putting wall outlets back in the same places.

THE STORY IN The Sun on Sunday that revealed sloppiness, and perhaps worse, in the Columbia Association's bidding process should give pause to the many smaller, quasi-governmental homeowner associations around, from Crofton to Odenton.In Howard County's Columbia, one of the nation's largest planned communities, the semi-public association that builds and runs recreational facilities must make immediate changes to restore confidence that it is properly spending millions of dollars it collects yearly from homeowners.

A company headed by two aides to Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke and two firms linked to the Nation of Islam are among the contenders for a multimillion-dollar contract to provide security at Baltimore's public housing projects.The principals of Trident Group Inc. -- one of six companies submitting proposals to the Housing Authority of Baltimore City -- include Glenn Valis, a city police officer assigned to Schmoke's security detail, and Darryl J. Madden, a former administrative assistant to the mayor, now chief of the parking division in the city Department of Public Works.

IN THE BAD OLD days, it sometimes seemed, big state contracts were won in Maryland by the businessman who promised the biggest kickback.Those days brought shame. A former governor, Spiro T. Agnew, resigned the vice presidency amid charges that he had taken bribes while serving as Baltimore County executive.In the dreary aftermath of his fall, lawyers and bureaucrats came up with an intricate bidding system designed to protect the taxpayer, the state's good name and well-meaning public officials who find themselves, almost inevitably, in compromising situations.

The Orioles have withdrawn from the bidding for two pitchers who defected from the Cuban National Team.General manager Pat Gillick confirmed yesterday that the club had pulled out of negotiations with the agent for pitchers Livan Hernandez and Osvaldo Fernandez because the price had become too high."

What About Responsibility?While reading the article about being poor in a wealthy county in the June 11 Sun for Howard County, I felt compassion for the individuals described and, indeed, I will and do share my earnings to assist them. But some additional questions begged to be asked, and weren't.If Rosie Cole did not have marketable skills for employment, why did she have four children? Why are there no child support payments from the children's father? Why didn't Neal Vaughn quit smoking in the 1960s when it became clear smoking was bad for one's health?

Bidding stopped at $808,500 for one of Federal Hill's largest homes, auctioned Tuesday to benefit an animal charity chosen by the former owner, who was devoted to his dog. It took auctioneer Tim Jennings, who stood on the marble steps of the 4,400-square-foot house at 405 Warren Ave., less than five minutes to complete the sale to Mahlon "Sandy" Apgar IV and his wife, Anne, who live in Ruxton. The couple's successful bid was $735,000 plus a 10 percent buyer's premium. A dozen registered bidders had arrived with $20,000 cashier's checks, and bidding began at $450,000.

I've reached that point in my fantasy baseball preparations where all the top players are slotted and my major strategies for each draft and auction have congealed. But that doesn't mean I feel completely ready for the start of bidding Sunday. There's always more to do, especially when you play in deep leagues. You may win largely because of a sound overall plan and smart bids on top players. But a few total dead spots on the roster can drag the whole enterprise down. Conversely, unexpected production from your cheapest five or six guys can bolster you through stretches when the stars aren't shining.

The auctioneer stood at the pulpit yesterday where a minister once did and preached the gospel of opportunity, hoping to convert his congregation of the curious into true buyers. For sale -- the chance to claim a once-powerful Ashburton church, an imposing structure of stone once known to some as "the cathedral of Baltimore." Though some in the crowd had their eyes on individual pieces of the former St. Mark's United Methodist Church -- the breathtaking stained glass that, panel by panel, depicts the Jesus story, the nearly 100-year-old pipe organ, the elaborately carved panels and doors -- the most serious bidders only wanted the whole Gothic package.

The federal government has extended the bidding deadline for the Bloody Point Bar Lighthouse, a century-old fixer-upper off the Kent Island coast that was expected to be sold this week. The online auction for the lighthouse was to end at 2 p.m. yesterday, but the General Services Administration, which is selling the cast-iron structure, moved the deadline back a day when a bid came in at 1:56 p.m. Within five minutes, two more bids came in, pushing the cost for the lighthouse up to $75,000.

Turning up the heat on the already simmering auction for the assets of Chicago-based Tribune Co., Gannett Co., the nation's largest newspaper publisher, has emerged as a possible bidder for Tribune's newspaper properties, the Chicago Tribune learned yesterday. Executives from the McLean, Va.-based media giant, which publishes 90 U.S. newspapers, including top-read USA Today, were in Chicago last week to hear presentations on Tribune's financial condition, two sources close to the situation said.

CHICAGO -- The auction for Tribune Co. moves into a new, more delicate phase this week. After a disappointing first round of bids, the company's challenge is to defeat the perception that Tribune is only worth about $8 billion - about as much as it paid for Times Mirror Co. six years ago. The company is planning presentations for representatives of several of the private-equity firms bidding on the company, hoping to reassure them that the advertising and...

A splendid torment. That's how my buddy Nick described the 11 1/2 hours of our fantasy baseball auction Saturday. Turns out he cribbed the phrase from Thomas Jefferson, who described the presidency as "splendid misery." But whatever the exact wording, it's apt. Seven league mates streamed into my basement just before 11 a.m. Two called in from an office in Manhattan and another dropped in via Web cam from California. Scott uses a computer-driven draft plan that we've dubbed "The Sauce," so it seemed only appropriate that he was beamed in like Big Brother.

Last week, we asked readers whether they believed the city of Annapolis should reopen bidding for a business to take over the historic Market House. Dean & Deluca, the New York-based specialty grocer, had abandoned plans to run it and enlisted Annapolis Seafood to take it over. Here is a sampling of responses: Second bidder should get lease I am vehemently opposed to the proposal which will allow Annapolis Seafood to take over the Market House. The whole bait-and-switch which has occurred regarding the leasing of the market stinks to high heaven.

Ben Nacev knows how hard it can be to buy a house. After two unsuccessful attempts this year, he finally came up a winner when the seller of a Govans house accepted his contract. "It's pretty crazy," said Nacev, who settled on the $114,000 property June 7. "But I would say, don't get too wrapped up in it. Realize when you go into it, you may have to go through two or three rounds." Nacev's experience is one that's become common at a time when high demand and historically low interest rates continue to fuel a fast-paced seller's market.

WE, THE BASEBALL-loving people of Baltimore - home of the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum - want the bat. Whose bat? Babe Ruth's bat. What bat? The bat Ruth used April 18, 1923, to hit the first home run in the first game at Yankee Stadium -thereafter known as The House That Ruth Built. The bat being called The Holy Grail of sports memorabilia. For complete information, go to the Sotheby's auction house Web site. Find the 312-item catalog for The Babe Comes Home: Important Baseball Memorabilia.