Are your stocks and other investments underperforming? Well, consider buying a piece of Yankee Stadium as an investment.

Yankee Stadium, the cathedral of baseball, and "The House That Ruth Built," closes today.

In 2009, the City of New York will auction-off seats, signs, lockers, and other valuable parts of Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium, both of which are owned by the city and which will be replaced in April 2009 by two new stadiums, a new Yankee Stadium in The Bronx for the New York Yankees, and CitiField in Queens for the New York Mets.

Artifacts from both ballparks will have value, but Yankee Stadium's will far exceed most items from Shea Stadium, collectors say.

That's because, among sports venues, in human history Yankee Stadium ranks second only to the Roman Coliseum in cultural and social significance.

We know what occurred in the Coliseum: its activities symbolized life during humanity's descent. We also know what has taken place in Yankee Stadium, and the games played and events held there help tell the story of humanity's ascent.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) is recently up 26 cents to $61.09. PG is expected to report Q4 EPS in early August.

PG announced on June 30 that Derek Jeter, of the New York Yankees, will join Tiger Woods, Roger Federer and Thierry Henry as Gillette Champion ambassadors.

PG call option volume of 5,770 contracts compares to put volume of 38,520 contracts. PG August option implied volatility of 23 is above its 26-week average of 20 according to Track Data, suggesting price movement.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

In 2001, Alex Rodriguez, perhaps the finest slugger to ever play the game, inked an unprecendented 10-year, $252 million contract to jump from the Seattle Mariners to the Texas Rangers. Three years later, when the Texas management regained its sanity and realized the ruinous terms of the deal, they dealt A-Rod to the only team with the money to support such a contract, the New York Yankees.

With A-Rod and another future Hall-of-Famer at shortstop, Derek Jeter, the Yankees had the foundation to return to its status as perennial World Series champion. Unfortunately for the club, it hasn't turned out that way. For A-Rod, however, things continue to improve.

His 2007 season was a monster; 54 home runs, 156 RBIs, slugging percentage of .645, American League MVP. Unfortunately, he continued what has become a maddening tendency to disappear in the playoffs, hitting like a bantamweight in the team's loss to the Cleveland Indians.

Such a wipeout might diminish most people's bargaining value, but A-Rod took an early-out option in his contract and went back out on the free agent market. After much bluster and posturing, the Yankees awarded him a new 10-year, $275 million contract. At 32, he should be set for the rest of his career, one in which he will almost certainly eclipse the home run record of Barry "better hitting through chemistry" Bonds.

When it comes to baseball contracts, in 2007 A-Rod hit one out of the park.

Be sure to check out more Money Winners of 2007.