A stadium full of memories doesn't die with a spectacular implosion.

The last few hundred items from the Kingdome were auctioned off yesterday for prices ranging from $5 for a player's stool to $1,000 for an autographed baseball.

Tom and Michele Laughlin held their two young children as they bought framed pictures to go in the bar and restaurant they hope to open next year.

Vern Smart wanted to buy Astroturf for the floor of his son's batting cage, but he was outbid at $225.

Gordon Wang wasn't sure he would buy anything. But the baseball lover bought a baseball signed by Brooklyn Dodger teammates Gil Hodges, Pee Wee Reese and Jackie Robinson in 1947, Robinson's rookie year in the Major Leagues.

Wang paid $1,000 - a bargain, he said later - for the rare collector's baseball. It was the priciest purchase of the day.

"It's Father's Day," Wang said, "so maybe I can justify this to my wife: `Don't worry about it, you don't have to worry about going out shopping for me.' "

As three framed photos of a Van Halen concert were put up for bid, auctioneer Jack Rhodes quipped, "You'll see them on eBay tomorrow."

Bidders were shopping for more than bargains, though. Like kids visiting a haunted house, they were looking for memories among the last ghosts of the Kingdome.

Each of the 279 items had memories attached. There were photos and paintings of Seahawk pass receiver Steve Largent, of Mariner Edgar Martinez sliding home, of the 1976 Billy Graham Crusade, the 1990 Alcoholics Anonymous international convention, and the 1995 Promise Keepers gathering.

There were banners from the 1994 NCAA Final Four, a chalkboard used by the Sonics, sets of bases and pitching rubbers, goal post padding.

There were even pieces of the infamous ceiling tiles that led to a multimillion-dollar repair job shortly before the decision to tear down the Dome.

Everything sold, even some dated-looking sewing machines and an industrial-sized popcorn popper. Bidders stood up as the benches and stools they had been sitting on were auctioned.

Memories of former Mariner Ken Griffey Jr. were not sweet.

"Who?" bidders asked when his name was mentioned.

"Since he's left, the team seems better," Rhodes agreed, quickly adding that Griffey memorabilia is valuable because he surely will be a Hall of Famer.

Among those watching the auction at the Stadium Exhibition Center was Nellie Sunderland, who sold tickets for the Dome's opening ceremony in 1976 and is now the defunct stadium's last employee. She will close the office June 30.

Longtime Kingdome spokeswoman Carol Keaton, who also was hired in 1976, said she walked in her sleep the night before the auction.

"That's how upset I was," she said.

Dick Gemperle, who helped write the environmental-impact statement for the building, compared it to a 1970s Volkswagen van.

"It was multipurpose, it was efficient, it was funky, it never ran well, but it got you there," he said. "Like a VW van, it's had its time."

Or as Rhodes declared after the auction, "The Kingdome is dead and gone."

Keith Ervin's phone message number is 206-464-2105. His e-mail address is kervin@seattletimes.com.

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Here are some of the prices paid at yesterday's Kingdome memorabilia auction:

Bronze statues of generic Seahawk and Mariner, $800 each

Autographed print of Steve Largent, $200

Autographed print of Ken Griffey Jr., $185

Autographed print of Gaylord Perry, $225

Framed print of sailboat, $7.50

Damaged ceiling tiles and small signs, $125

Three photos of Van Halen concert, $50