Forget running. Apparently, Bruce Frederick Springsteen was born to sell.
Fans looking to get some truly rare Boss records now can, thanks to a New York auction house that has put up for bid confidential medical documents detailing the Hall of Fame rocker’s birth.
Lelands.com, an online auctioneer specializing in Americana and sports memorabilia, has put up for sale nine “historically important” records chronicling Springsteen’s pre-glory diaper days dating back to his September 23, 1949 birth at Monmouth Memorial Hospital in Long Branch, New Jersey.
As revealed by a sample of images posted on Lelands’ Website, the records kept by Dr. Frank Niemtsow and his staff go into “great detail medically on the birth” of Springsteen, now 54.
They disclose once private information, such as the color of the newborn’s bowel movements (yellow), and the fact that he had skin rashes and underwent a routine test for syphilis, which was more widespread at that time. The records also present biographical information on his parents, listing father Douglas as a “laborer” for the “Freehold race track” and mother Adele as being from Brooklyn.
A spokesperson for the auction site, Marty Appel, told E! Online the documents were part of a larger collection of Springsteen mementos.
“Lelands obtained it from a rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia dealer some time ago and there’s no indication it was stolen,” said Appel. “I believe the history was that it was discarded. If it was stolen, Lelands would not auction it.”
Appel said that Josh Evans, Leland’s founder and chairman, is such a major Boss fan “that if there was any such requests [to pull the material], he would do so.”
A spokesperson for Monmouth Memorial, now Monmouth Medical Center, was unavailable for comment Friday, but told The Smoking Gun Website that the confidential hospital records should not have found their way to the public. But given they date back to 1949, it’s difficult for hospital officials to trace how the records were leaked.
“The only people who should have access to those are patients, their designated signee, or someone who gets access to them via a court order,” the hospital’s Kathy Horan told The Smoking Gun.
No immediate reaction from the Springsteen camp on the auction. His attorney, Steven Hayes, was out of town and could not be reached for comment.
So far in 13 days on the block, Lelands has fielded zero takers for the material, which requires an opening bid of $1,000.
For those fans who prefer not to know the intimate details of his birth, Lelands has plenty of other Springsteen stuff up for auction, including the leather jacket he wore on the cover of Newsweek in 1975 (currently up for grabs at $2,357), handwritten lyrics for the early track “Lost in the Flood” ($1,098) and an original Bruce Springsteen Steel Mill poster ($1,178).
