Haul of fame: Series artifacts bound for Cooperstown

KANSAS CITY -- Artifacts going to the Hall of Fame from the 110th World Series include caps worn by Series MVP Madison Bumgarner in all three of his outings; Buster Posey's jersey and Pablo Sandoval's bat both from Game 7; Hunter Pence's Game 4 bat; Bruce Bochy's cap; and the spikes Jeremy Affeldt wore as the winning pitcher of the Giants' latest World Series clincher, a 3-2 win over the Royals on Wednesday night.

Jeff Idelson, president of the Hall, and Brad Horn, vice president for communications and education, were on hand in the victors' clubhouse to secure several artifact donations from the 36th decisive Game 7 in World Series history. It completes a special salute to the world champions in the Hall of Fame's Autumn Glory exhibit, which tells the story of each postseason.

Immediately after the clincher, Affeldt agreed to donate his spikes as an artifact for his ongoing streak of 22 consecutive scoreless postseason appearances, one game shy of Mariano Rivera's record. The donation became even more fitting in subsequent moments when the official scorer changed the winning pitcher of record, giving the decision to Affeldt instead of Bumgarner.

Affeldt was choked up with emotion as he stood beside his wife, Larisa, in the clubhouse celebration scene and answered a question about what it means to have something he used during the Fall Classic going to the ultimate shrine.

"I didn't think I'd ever get a World Series ring, and I definitely don't think I'm going to be a Hall of Famer," said Affeldt, a father of three sons. "But to be able to say that some of my equipment just went to the Hall of Fame, my boys can, for the rest of their lives, go there and see my cleats. I can take my family ... it means a lot to me."

Artifacts are going to Cooperstown Thursday morning and will be featured in the exhibit starting in mid-November, with a special display through the 2015 postseason.

Previous artifacts from this postseason curated by the Hall include:

• The cap worn by Royals pitcher Yordano Ventura during his World Series Game 6 victory. The cap included an inscription "RIP O.T. No. 18" as he dedicated his performance to fellow Dominican native and Cardinals outfielder Oscar Taveras, who was killed in an automobile accident on Sunday.

• The cap worn by Royals pitcher Brandon Finnegan during Kansas City's Game 3 victory, when he became the first player to appear in the College World Series and MLB World Series in the same year.

• The bat used by Travis Ishikawa to hit his walk-off home run and win the National League pennant for the Giants in Game 5 of the NL Championship Series against St. Louis.

• The jersey worn by Royals manager Ned Yost in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series, in which Yost became the first manager to win his first eight postseason games.

This is becoming a ritual gathering process for the Hall and the Giants. In 2012, the Hall received a bat that Sandoval used during his three-homer Game 1 against Detroit, and a Pence item also was donated from that series.

The Hall has several artifacts from past World Series Game 7s, including the bat used by Arizona's Luis Gonzalez for his game-winning hit in 2001; the spikes worn by Craig Counsell when he scored the winning run in the bottom of the 11th for the Marlins in 1997; and the batting helmet worn by Pittsburgh's Bill Mazeroski when he hit the only walk-off home run in Game 7 history in 1960 to beat the Yankees.