Second, much thanks to all those who asked if I was OK. Next time get yourself a map — I live on the opposite side of the island, at WEST 70 Street — but your concern was greatly appreciated.

Third, the only insight I can add to the events themselves was that I had a dodgeball game at 8 p.m. five blocks down at 67 Street and First Avenue, then walked to the postgame bar at 74 Street and First Avenue an hour later. That walk took us about a block away from the crash and, aside from yellow police tape that had been loosened to let pedestrians and cars though, you couldn't even tell anything had happened. And this was a huge news story that broke through scheduled TV programming all over the place. Only in New York.

Now for the point of this post...

As an eBay junkie and former sports memorabilia addict, I'm always intrigued by how auction sellers and bidders respond to the sudden death of an athlete.

Historically, such tragic events cause autograph prices to soar. In a world of supply and demand, death means the end of supply. Demand should really only spike if there's an emotional attachment to the fallen figure, like Dale Earnhardt or Kirby Puckett.

Cory Lidle never matched their popularity, and not even close. Nonetheless, eBay action on Lidle items went crazy on Wednesday. Before his name popped into the news, an autographed ball of his sold for $15. Not more than a minute after that auction closed, another ball began its climb to selling for $318. That item's bidding history shows a very interesting timeline.

The day Kirby Puckett died, I was surprised to see his 1985 rookie cards sell for about 20 times what they could have fetched a day earlier. This made no sense to me. Production of those cards had ended 20 years earlier, and it was doubtful the already popular Puckett picked up any more fans after he died. Plus, one would think the fans who just had to have a Puckett rookie, right away and at any price, would have already had a couple in their collections.

Lidle, however, was known in the card industry as a "common," a player you'd keep only to build a set. From what I can find on eBay, his most sought-after unautographed card is from the 1998 Topps Chrome set. A search of completed items of that card shows that every one of that card sold in recent days sold on Wednesday — after the news, of course. Before the crash, I'd have to estimate the value of the card at 5 cents. In other words, not enough to even warrant an eBay listing. Yet, this listing of the card was fetching $142 as of 1 a.m. ET Thursday.

Why should you be shocked at these values? Because Thurman Munson's 1970 Topps rookie card can be had for far less.

Earnhardt, by the way, was his own eBay story, because they made Earnhardt everything. T-shirts, bumper stickers, replica cars, belt buckles, you name it. Only KISS throws its name on more shit than NASCAR. And the fans eat it up.

And, of course, you see a flood of these items a day or so after news breaks. Takes awhile for greedy bastards to sort through their card boxes. But if someone is willing to give you $140 for a 5-cent Cory Lidle card that, trust me, will not fetch much more than 5 cents a month from now, can't say I blame anyone for going for the cash.

Also see:
• Cory Lidle items on eBay, sorted by highest prices first.
• Cory Lidle "completed" items on eBay, sorted by highest prices first

(Hat tip to my buddy Ayan for pointing out the action on eBay after Lidle's name was announced as the possible pilot.)