Larsen to auction off Yankees uniform from perfect game

Being the kind of grandfather that he is, New York Yankees legend Don Larsen is taking one for the team.

The former pitcher announced Thursday that he's paying for his grandchildren's college education by auctioning off his most prized possession - the baseball uniform he wore when he pitched the only perfect game in World Series history.

Steiner Sports Memorabilia will conduct the auction beginning Oct. 8, the 56th anniversary of Larsen's masterful pitching performance against the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1956 World Series. Baseball enthusiasts worldwide will have the opportunity to place bids online or via phone for 56 days afterward.

The off-white uniform with faded Yankee pinstripes is in excellent condition, Larsen said.

When asked how much he'd like to get for the uniform - which includes both the jersey and pants - Larsen, 82, didn't miss a beat.

"A million," he said. "Why go cheap?"

Larsen's expectations aren't out of line, either. In May, a jersey worn by Babe Ruth sold for more than $4.4 million.

Steiner Executive Vice President Brett Schissler estimated that Larsen's uniform could sell for as high as $2 million and that the company had already received several seven-figure offers.

Larsen, who excelled in baseball and basketball while attending San Diego's Point Loma High School, originally loaned the uniform to the San Diego Hall of Champions when he was inducted in 1964. This spring, Larsen decided to auction it off and drove from his home in Hayden Lake, Idaho, to the West Coast to retrieve it.

At a news conference about the auction, announcer Bob Wolff played a grainy audio recording of his broadcast from Larsen's perfect game. Listening to the 56-year-old play-by-play of Wolff calling out after out, Larsen stared off into the distance as his wife, Corrine, held his hand under the table and smiled.

Larsen said that after he struck out Dodgers pinch-hitter Dale Mitchell on a called third strike, "it felt like the world left my shoulders then."

"When Yogi jumped on me, I probably still haven't woken up yet," Larsen said, recalling the iconic moment after the game when Yankees catcher Yogi Berra leapt into his arms.

But Larsen told reporters he initially thought he had pitched a no-hitter. He didn't even know he had tossed a perfect game - meaning no opposing player even reached first base - until someone told him later in the clubhouse.

Matt Burcaw, 66, who attended the game in 1956 with his father and brother, said he'll never forget the silence among the 64,519 spectators packed into Yankee Stadium that day.

"The silence got louder and louder," he said. "It was uncanny."

Regardless of what happens at auction, Larsen said, he'll always feel a sense of proud ownership over the uniform.

"It's still mine," he said. "I'm still inside it."

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Brewster goes for $98M

Lois Weiss

BETWEEN THE BRICKS

The Brewster has landed a buyer. The 144-unit building at 21 W. 86th St. just traded for $98 million to Cornerstone with Adellco as the operating partner. Cornerstone is a division of Mass Mutual.

The building was marketed by Darcy Stacom and Paul Liebowitz at CBRE on behalf of the seller, Rambleside Holdings, a Cohen family company.

The price equates to $850 a foot for its 116,000 rentable square feet. The building has plenty of light and air, as well as Central Park views.

A four-bedroom penthouse with terraces became available earlier this year and will be rented for more than $20,000 per month.

The building also has more than 10,000 square feet of professional space, with Columbia University as the majority tenant.

A Federal Home Loan mortgage is being transferred.

“They have had many offers through the years, but to get the best price decided to go with a broker,” said Stacom. The family expects to reinvest the money around the country, she added.

Stacom is just beginning to market the 113-unit 393 West End Ave. that was purchased in March by Douglas Eisenberg in a three-building portfolio that went for $145 million.

“We are already getting offers for well above what they paid for it in a portfolio,” said Stacom. That building has 110,000 rentable square feet and could be a great buy with pricing in the $600s-plus per square foot.

***

A handful of city agencies located at 75 Park Place aren’t going anywhere after signing a significant 207,812 square-foot renewal at the 14-story, Class-A property developed in 1986 by Jack Resnick & Sons. The building is still owned and managed by the firm, which also owns several other buildings downtown.

The Office of Management and Budget, the Office of the Actuary and the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications occupy the majority of the sixth through ninth floors.

Dennis Brady and Brett Greenberg represented the Resnicks in the 15-year, six-month lease renewal that had an asking rent in the mid-$40s per square foot. The city did not use a broker.

Other tenants in the building include RR Donnelley and Sons, Tradition North America and the Borough of Manhattan Community College.

***

Amazon has expanded by 24,707 square feet at 1350 Ave. of the Americas, for a total 92,493 square feet.

The Web retail giant now occupies three and a half of the 35 floors at the 585,156 square-foot tower at West 55th Street. According to Steve Durels of SL Green Realty Corp., the expansion required the relocation and/or consolidation of six separate spaces.

Justin Halpern and Marcus Reyner of Cresa Partners represented the tenant, while Howard J. Tenenbaum and Gary M. Rosen represented SL Green.

***

Jeff Sutton just orchestrated the purchase of the shares for a duplex co-op at 30 E. 65th St. for $2.6 million that will be amalgamated into the street retail in the base of the building that is already owed by his venture with SL Green.

The move entailed finding the owner another apartment, sources said. SLG referred us to Sutton, who declined to comment.

To get dramatic high ceilings, the retail space with the address of 747 Madison Ave. broke through to incorporate another apartment at the corner.

But this could allow Sutton and SLG to break up the space, which is now occupied by Escada on a short-term lease, and create two Madison Avenue storefronts, both with high ceilings.

The space includes 6,700 square feet on the first floor and a 3,100 square-foot lower level. The original purchase price added up to $66.25 million and with this becomes a $68.85 million investment.

***

When President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama were wandering around 1 World Trade center earlier this month, they spent some private time with building owner Douglas Durst, as well as with Mayor Mike Bloomberg and Govs. Andrew Cuomo and Chris Christie.

After the beam-signing event, the Obamas also spent private “face time” with the Port Authority board, which includes real estate executive Scott Rechler and Mintz Levin attorney Jeffrey Moerdler.

*

For those of you who scour real-estate news for sport, a free service dubbed The News Funnel will send an e-mail each morning with links to news about only the companies and word searches that you target, and also act as your continuous targeted news feed when you check in during the day.

Started by New Jersey-based p.r. executive Michael Beckerman, along with investors who include Stephen Siegel and Scott Landis, many of the 500 news sources and 195 available companies so far are based in New Jersey and the overall tri-state area.

Companies in New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia can also join for free and upload their own press releases, news, blogs and job openings.

Beckerman will be rolling it out to both other markets and other industries over the coming year.

Your hardest job will be to take the 10 minutes to set up the initial service.

Lois@BetweentheBricks.com

Darcy Stacom, rentable square feet, square feet, square feet, Cornerstone, Paul Liebowitz, SL Green Realty Corp., Stacom, President Barack Obama

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Yankees tiring of Wade-ing

No longer is Cory Wade either effective or reliable.

Wade has emerged as a problematic issue for the Yankees, who saw their right-handed reliever enter last night’s game against the Indians and nearly cough up a six-run lead. He surrendered four runs in two-thirds of an inning, forcing Rafael Soriano to save the eventual 6-4 victory.

BOX SCORE

After being terrific throughout his Yankees tenure last year and the first two months of this season, Wade has served up runs in six of his last 10 appearances, allowing nine earned runs through 6 2/3 innings during that time for a 12.15 ERA.

“I’m sure he’s gone through this before. Everyone’s going to go through it. We saw a guy with 3200 hits go through it for two months last year,” manager Joe Girardi said, referring to Derek Jeter. “We’ve got to get [Wade] right.”

Girardi believes Wade is healthy, reasoning that the 29-year-old’s velocity is unchanged. Catcher Chris Stewart said Wade’s issue is his location.

“He’s missing over the plate,” Stewart said.

Wade had been a revelation after the Yankees picked him up in mid-season last year, pitching in 40 games and posting a sparkling 2.04 ERA. Then, for his first 22 games this season through June 1, Wade had a 2.28 ERA.

Through his first 62 games as a Yankee, Wade’s ERA was 2.13. In his last 10 games, it has been almost six times that.

Wade has become an important component of the bullpen, but right now it’s difficult to imagine the Yankees can trust him in important situations. If Wade doesn’t start pitching better, it’s also possible his role could be further diminished with rehabbing righty relievers Joba Chamberlain and David Aardsma potentially returning later this season.

Last night, Wade began the ninth inning with the Yankees up 6-0, thanks to Phil Hughes’ eight innings of work. Wade allowed Jason Kipnis’ leadoff double to center, then after getting the next two outs, surrendered Johnny Damon’s RBI bloop single and Casey Kotchman’s single. Jose Lopez then followed with a three-run homer to left, making it a 6-4 game. At that point, Girardi brought in Soriano to close it.

— Additional reporting by Dan Martin.

mark.hale@nypost.com

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Yankees' Cano disagrees with error call

Robinson Cano wanted to get one thing straight before he left Citi Field late last night.

“That was not an error,” he said. “If you want to make an error, make it the right error.’’

The Yankees second baseman, who had a ball hit by Justin Turner glance off his glove for an error that helped the Mets to a game-tying, three-run sixth inning, atoned for his miscue with a long, tie-breaking home run leading off the eighth as the Yankees beat the Mets 6-5 in the final game of the Subway Series.

But the home run — his 16th of the season — did little to soothe the slick-fielding Cano’s wounded pride.

Anthony J. Causi

YANKS ALOT: Robinson Cano (24) gets an excited congratulations from Nick Swisher after his solo homer in the eighth inning — on the heels of a sixth-inning error — lifted the Yankees to a 6-5 win over the Mets.

“I don’t want to make an error, but that’s not an error,” he said. “That’s not right. I was playing [Turner] up the middle. I had to run to my left for that ball and it took a bad hop. That’s not an error.”

Cano was not the only Yankee to commit an error last night. His was just the most glaring.

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PHOTOS: SUBWAY SERIES MOMENTS

Catcher Chris Stewart had a throwing error in the first inning and another in the third when the Mets scored their first run. And first baseman Mark Teixeira got screened by base runner Vinny Rottino on Andres Torres’ game-tying, two-run single in the sixth. It’s a play Teixeira usually makes in his sleep.

It was not the finest defensive effort of the season for the Yankees, who entered the night with the fewest errors in the American League (29). Only one of the five runs allowed by Yankees starter CC Sabathia was earned.

“Errors are gonna happen,” Sabathia said after getting the no-decision. “I was the one who made it tough on myself. They’ve played great defense all year ... and it was up to me to pick those guys up.”

“We had some miscues,” said manager Joe Girardi. “[Stewart] usually makes outstanding throws. If he makes decent ones there, things are different. Robbie is so sure-handed. That led to a big inning for them, but we were able to overcome it.’’

Thanks to Cano’s homer that barely missed landing in the big apple in dead center field, where Alex Rodriguez had deposited a ball earlier in the series.

“Robbie didn’t try to do too much,” Girardi said. “When he drives the ball to center field like that it tells me he’s not overswinging.’’

“I wasn’t trying to hit a homer,” said Cano, who went deep against Mets reliever Miguel Batista, a right-hander. “I was trying to get a pitch to hit, get a single or a double. Get into scoring position so that Tex or one of the other guys can get a single and I can score. I never had it in mind that I wanted to hit it out or anything like that.”

dburke@nypost.com

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The Ideas Man With a Plan for Germany

Joachim "Jogi" Loew does not look like a soccer coach, certainly not one of a powerhouse like Germany.

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Reuters

Germany coach Joachim Loew made critical tactical moves in a win over Greece on Friday in Euro 2012.

His hair, suspiciously thick and jet black, is a bit too perfect in a Sam Malone kind of way to the point where he was asked a while back if he wore a wig (no) or if he at least dyed it (again, no). His penchant for tight, sometimes shiny, monochrome shirts—both collarless and button-down—suggest his natural habitat might be an art gallery rather than a soccer pitch. And his jaunty, affable demeanor set him apart from soccer's standard ex-jocks, who tend to range from curmudgeonly and paranoid to crowd-pleasing and populist.

Loew is decidedly different, which might be the reason for his unlikely rise.

A former striker—which in itself is somewhat unusual, as most coaches tend to be former central defenders or midfielders—who never quite broke into the higher echelons as a player, Loew lasted less than a year in four of his five coaching jobs. Then his old friend Jurgen Klinsmann, now the U.S. coach, called on him to join Germany's staff as an assistant in 2004. Loew flourished under Klinsmann, developing a reputation as the ideas man, and he was handed the job after the 2006 World Cup.

Now Germany, with four wins in Euro 2012, looks to be on a collision course to meet Spain in the tournament's final next Sunday. On Wednesday, Spain takes on Portugal in the first semifinal, while Germany faces either England or Italy the following day.

Should the two uber-favorites reach the final in Kiev, it promises to be something of a grudge match. Spain, the reigning World Cup and Euro champions, knocked Germany out of the semifinal of the last World Cup and beat the Germans in the Euro 2008 final.

One of the things that stands out about Loew is his flexibility and willingness to make tweaks even when things are going well. Take Friday's quarterfinal with Greece as an excellent example. Germany had rolled through the group stage with three wins in what looked like the toughest group on paper. It was also the only team to have won all three games and had scored the second-most goals in the tournament.

More Euro 2012

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Germany Kicks Greece Out of Euro 2012

Euro 2012 Stream

So what did Loew do?

He benched three of his front four—Mario Gomez and wingers Thomas Mueller and Lukas Podolski—against the Greeks. That trio, which had started every game until that point, was replaced by veteran striker Miroslav Klose and attacking midfielders Marco Reus and Andreas Schurrle.

So much for the old coaching mantra of sticking with the guys who got you there.

"I wanted to freshen up the team a bit," Loew said. "Plus Marco [Reus] and Andreas [Schurrle] are a bit better at playing between the lines, and they are a bit more creative, and that's important against a team like Greece, who we knew would be defending deep. For the same reason I thought Miro [Klose's] movement could be important."

The logic was faultless. Podolski and Mueller, mainstays of the team that made the 2010 World Cup semifinals, are at their best when they have space in which to operate. That makes them exceptional counterattackers. Gomez, a big, powerful target man, is prolific but static: He needs someone to get him the ball, and he would've been double-teamed by the Greeks.

Yet the move still took a lot of courage. Between them, Reus and Schurrle have 23 international appearances; Mueller and Podolski have 131. Gomez was the Euro's leading scorer, whereas Klose had not scored in his previous six games.

Germany won 4-2, but it was the kind of decision that could have blown up in Loew's face and make him look like a fool. True, Greece wasn't the best matchup for the three incumbents. And realistically, there was a greater chance of Greece's creditors saying they would write off the country's national debt overnight than there was of an upset.

But had the three newcomers not played well, Loew could have faced turmoil and second-guessing in the locker room. Then again, he made a similar bold choice in 2008, switching from a 4-4-2 formation to a 4-2-3-1 midway through the tournament—a decision prompted not by results but by performance.

More than most, Loew is a big-picture guy. In 2010, his team's emphasis was on speed and exploiting the counterattack, something Germany did with devastating effect. Over the past two years, he has tried to make the team more adept at keeping possession and creating chances against opponents who defend in numbers. To make a basketball analogy, he has turned a run-and-gun team into one that loves half-court offense.

It makes sense: Opponents fear Germany much more than they did before. They sit deep and look to snatch something on the break, as was evident in the group games against Portugal and Denmark.

It would have been easy for Loew to stick with the tried-and-tested. But it's his desire to innovate and change—even making radical changes, like Friday's—that sets him apart. And ultimately, that could be the key to Germany winning the Euro. Or at least giving Spain a run for its money.

—Gabriele Marcotti is the world soccer columnist for The Times of London and a regular broadcaster for the BBC.

Joachim Loew, Joachim Jogi Loew, Germany, Germany, Miroslav Klose, Lukas Podolski, Spain, Marco Reus, Thomas Mueller

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Frank's comments add Subway Series spice, but do they qualify as trash talk?

Mike Vaccaro
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Nothing ever happens in a vacuum around the Mets, so you knew Frank Francisco was going to come trotting out of the bullpen in the top of the ninth inning, seeking to protect a two-run lead on the day he helped land Derek Jeter on the front page of this newspaper in a chicken suit.

You knew Francisco wasn’t going to get out of it 1-2-3, either, because he it goes against his code to do things 1-2-3, and so when it was two on, one out, with Curtis Granderson, Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez awaiting …

Well, that figured, too.

YANKEES-METS BOX SCORE

PHOTOS: SUBWAY SERIES MOMENTS

And even after he blew a fastball past the startled Curtis Granderson for the second out, you knew there had to be something extra, something excruciating, so there it was: a towering ball off the bat of Teixeira, Raul Ibanez and Derek Jeter roaring around the basepaths, the ball hovering over the infield, a million Mets fans enduring a million instant flashbacks …

And faster than you could say “Luisbleepincastillo,” the ball was in Omar Quintanilla’s glove, and it was over, and for a day at least Frank Francisco had called the mighty New York Yankees chicken and lived to tell about it.

And even quasi-apologize for it.

“I didn’t mean to hurt anyone’s feelings,” Francisco said.

Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post

Mets pitcher Frank Francisco reacts after the final out of his team's 6-4 win Friday against the Yankees.

Of course, because he apparently can’t help himself, a few seconds later, asked again if he thought the Yankees might be a bit too quick to complain about calls – the genesis of his poultry proposition in the first place – he smiled a half smile, half-nodded in the vicinity of the visitor’s clubhouse, and said, “They may be complaining right now.”

And, of course, because he clearly knows that he can’t help himself, a few seconds after that, he said, “I’ve got a lot of respect for those guys. There’s a lot of winners in that room.”

And thus ended another chapter in the wonderfully unpredictable and entirely unscripted world of Frank Frank, the Mets closer who not only enjoys turning the ninth innings of baseball games into something straight out of a Six Flags, he has now become the first participant in this 15-year Subway Series to dare to engage in a little bit of trash talk.

Sure, you can ask: does calling someone a “chicken” actually qualify as trash talk? Do six-year-olds called chicken in sandboxes even get their feelings hurt over that kind of thing anymore? Do you even need to summon the sticks and stones to salve those wounds?

And, yes: in the long history of intramural New York baseball, this hardly qualifies as a ripple. Hell, back in the day, back before there was even a name for it, the Giants and the Dodgers used to engage in epic spasms of trash talk.

Let’s rewind things almost 80 years, OK? It was 1934 when Bill Terry, managing the defending-champion Giants, was asked about his team’s most bitter rival and the odds they’d be heard from that season. Terry’s reply? “Is Brooklyn still in the league?” [ital] That’s [ital] quality trash talk, especially if you consider the Dodgers, managed by Casey Stengel, wound up knocking the Giants out of the pennant by winning two of three from the Terrymen in the season’s final week.

Not that anyone learned from that (thankfully for all). For it was 17 years later when, after his Dodgers stretched their lead in the National League to 13 ½ games, Brooklyn’s manager, Charlie Dressen, famously declared, “The Giants is dead!”

Which they wasn’t, as it turned out.

THAT is quality trash talk.

Maybe this is the start of something. Maybe today, we’ll show up at the ballpark and Ike Davis will want to declare that his father could beat up Derek Jeter’s father. Maybe the Yankees, unwilling to take it any longer, will tell the Post exclusively that the Mets suffer from an unrelenting case of cooties.

It could get ugly. You have to be ready for anything.

michael.vaccaro@nypost.com

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Ex-execs in AIG settlement

Five former insurance executives accused of engineering a fraudulent reinsurance transaction to mask a drop of reserves at American International Group reached a deal with the government to avoid prosecution on criminal charges, according to a court filing.

The former execs agreed to pay fines of between $100,000 and $250,000, and in exchange federal prosecutors will agree to dismiss the charges against them in one year, according to the filing.

The agreement is still subject to a judge’s approval.

Under the agreement filed yesterday, former General Re CEO Ronald Ferguson agreed to a fine of $200,000, which has already been paid.

Ex-AIG Vice-President Christian Milton agreed to a $200,000 fine, also already paid. Former General Re exec Chris Garand agreed to pay a $150,000 fine, ex-General Re exec Elizabeth Monrad agreed to a $250,000 fine and former General Re exec Robert Graham signed off on a $100,000 fine.

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