Bats and jerseys from Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle, DiMaggio anchor summer’s hottest sale
DALLAS, Texas (July 24, 2017) – Everything is coming up pinstripes in the hobby’s most anticipated summer event, as Heritage Auctions presents elite artifacts from the best of the Bronx in its Platinum Night auction, now accepting bids at HA.com/Sports, and closing in Extended Bidding format on Aug. 19-20. Nearly 600 lots are on offer in the two-day sale, which is expected to generate over $10 million in results.
“The Yankees typically figure pretty heavily in all of our Platinum Night events,” said Chris Ivy, Director of Heritage Sports Collectibles, “but this might be the most significant single compilation we’ve presented to date.”
The celebrated “Murderer’s Row” tandem of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig is expected to vie for the auction’s top result, the former responsible for one of the most important bats in private hands (est. $400,000+), dating to the 1920 season during which he first donned pinstripes, and nearly doubled his own single-season home run record. Ruth returned this bat to the Hillerich & Bradsby factory for duplication, and it became part of the bat company’s traveling exhibition of elite lumber.
Not to be outdone, the “Iron Horse” Gehrig provides a pinstriped flannel jersey from the Yankees’ 1937 World Championship season (est. $800,000+), a garment matched to the photograph used as the basis for his bronze plaque in Monument Park. The same photo appears upon the special ticket printed for his July 4, 1941 memorial game, exactly two years after his heartbreaking “Luckiest Man Alive” farewell.
Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris add three more single-digit Yankee flannels to the mix, the Yankee Clipper’s road grey beauty (est. $50,000+) possibly worn during his celebrated 1941 hitting streak. Leading authenticator MEARS offers a high-probability photo match to Mantle’s 1954 road jersey (est. $400,000+), while his M&M Boys counterpart supplies one of the first worn as a Yankee, during Maris’ American League MVP season of 1960 (est. $40,000+).
Even the trading card offerings trend heavily toward the sport’s most successful franchise, most notably a wide range of Mantle’s 1952 Topps cards, including an ultra-rare autographed model. Ruth and Gehrig appear again in this challenging collecting subgenre, each signing an example of his own 1928 Exhibit card. Other historic Yankees ink is found upon Lou Gehrig’s 1924 Yankees contract (est. $500,000+).
Certainly the auction provides a wide array of options for those more interested in other teams, sports and disciplines and art aficionados are certain to turn out in force to compete for an original study for Norman Rockwell’s famous cover painting for The Saturday Evening Post, Tough Call (est. $300,000+). The work was gifted to the painting’s main subject, umpire John “Beans” Reardon, and is consigned by his family.
Other Highlight Include:
1905 World Series Championship-Clinching Game Five Final Out Baseball (est. $30,000+)
1915 Cracker Jack Baseball Cards Advertising Sign (est. $100,000+)
1920 “Shoeless Joe” Jackson & Buck Weaver Signed Baseball (est. $200,000+)
1923 New York Yankees World Championship Pocket Watch (est. $30,000+)
1932 John McGraw Game-Worn New York Giants Uniform, MEARS A9 (est. $150,000+)
1951 Eddie Gaedel Game-Used Bat, PSA/DNA GU 10 (est. $40,000+)
1970 Ernie Banks Game-Worn Chicago Cubs Jersey, MEARS A10 (est. $100,000+)
1961 Arnold Palmer British Open-Winning Driver with Palmer Letter (est. $80,000+)
Late 1960’s Oscar Robertson Game-Worn Cincinnati Royals Jersey (est. $60,000+)
1986-88 Barry Sanders Game-Worn Oklahoma State Cowboys Jersey, MEARS A10 (est. $30,000+)
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