Memory Lane’s Southern California offices may have been closed for the past several weeks due to COVID-19 precautions but the company was very busy behind the scenes, piecing together a large spring auction catalog that includes some of the hobby’s most sought after cards and unique autographs.
Set to open Thursday, May 7 and run through May 30, the catalog will feature over 1,000 lots.
The auction leads off with a bevy of baseball autographs, topped by a 1924 New York Yankees team signed baseball, including Babe Ruth and a 21-year-old Lou Gehrig. Originally obtained by former big league pitcher Ed Rommel, the high-grade ball appropriately contains 24 Yankee autographs and is still in the original Reach factory box.
Signatures of Gehrig from this time frame are scarce. The youngster was nothing more than a Yankee prospect at that point and appeared in only ten games as he transitioned from the minor leagues following his college career at Columbia University.
Gehrig’s signature also appears on a 1934 Goudey baseball card that is in the auction. One of just three on PSA’s population report, the card contains a “Best Wishes” salutation.
The auction includes multiple single-signed Ruth items including a unique, personalized and dated baseball dating to his final Christmas that grades PSA/DNA 10. The ball was signed to the very young nephew of a friend Ruth visited on Christmas Day, 1947 and Ruth inscribed the date on the ball. It, too, remains in the original box and was consigned by the original recipient, now well into his 70s.
The auction also includes a large group of signed, cancelled checks, all authenticated and encapsulated. Among the famous names who endorsed them are Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson, Ty Cobb and Walter Johnson along with numerous other baseball luminaries from the pre and post-War eras.
The cardboard contingent includes some true hobby rarities such as a 1948 Leaf Boxing Rocky Graziano (PSA 4) a 1948 Leaf Satchel Paige (PSA 4.5), a 1909 E90-1 American Caramel Joe Jackson rookie card, a 1917 Collins-McCarthy Ruth (PSA 1-MK), a 1920 Felix Mendelsohn Ruth (SGC 10), a 1921 National Caramel E220 Ruth and a T206 Cy Young Old Mill back (PSA 7, the highest graded Old Mill Young portrait).
As usual, Memory Lane’s catalog will include hundreds of vintage singles, lots and sets from all sports, vintage and modern era unopened material and vintage wrappers. Among the rookie card highlights are high-grade examples featuring Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Larry Bird/Magic Johnson and Rickey Henderson (PSA 10).
Memorabilia includes numerous team-signed balls, signed baseball cards and even a very rare 1920 Draper and Maynard Sporting Goods catalog with Ruth on the cover.
You can preview the auction now on Memory Lane’s website and physical catalogs are available for the asking.
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