NFL Auctions is digging into the storage closet to help disaster relief efforts in Australia. The league's official website has launched a special auction, with proceeds from many items designated to help combat the devastating impacts of the brushfires. Dozens of items are on the block with more expected to be added. The highlights include 14 … [Read more...]
Photo of the Day: The Babe at Home With His Memorabilia in 1941
He'd been retired as a player for only six years but it looked like Babe Ruth was living a pretty laid back lifestyle when a photographer snapped a photo of him and his wife Claire in 1941. Dressed in a pair of slippers, pants and wearing a smoking jacket as he held his pipe, the Babe was a far cry from the big leagues. Behind him, however, were memories of his long … [Read more...]
New Exhibit Celebrates 40th Anniversary of Miracle on Ice
It may be hard to believe it’s been 40 years but it’s one of those events where you remember where you were when you found out about it. The 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team’s upset of the Soviet Union was that kind of moment, even if there was no live TV broadcast in the U.S. I was getting ready to play a high school basketball game (or sit on the bench at least) when … [Read more...]
Photo Of The Day: Jackie Robinson in Havana, Spring Training 1947
Pittsburgh Courier sportswriter Wendell Smith wrote an encouraging letter to Jackie Robinson on Feb. 4, 1947. Smith told Robinson, a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers’ minor league farm team in Montreal, that “You should not worry about the plans they have for you.” “As I see it you are definitely going to get a chance,” Smith wrote. “All you have to do is keep a cool head, … [Read more...]
Photo of the Day: Construction of Yankee Stadium
It would host events ranging from papal masses to rock concerts. There were big football games and boxing mega bouts. Thousands prayed there. Thousands more played there. Pope John Paul to Paul O'Neill. Billy Conn to Billy Joel. Baseball is what it was built for, of course. Jacob Ruppert was tired of sharing the Polo Grounds with the Giants so he … [Read more...]
Mickey Mantle’s Signed Rookie Card Contract Coming to Auction
Yesterday, we posted a photograph showing Joan Crosby, surrounded by Bowman Gum's baseball cards as she carried out her duties with the company back in 1953. One of Crosby's duties was to track down as many players as she could and get them to sign contracts so the company could put them on its baseball cards. One of those players was a young Mickey Mantle and in … [Read more...]
Photo Of The Day: Jim Thorpe And The 1907 Carlisle Indians
Jim Thorpe could do it all. He was a track star, excelled at college football and even played professional baseball. Thorpe was the undisputed star of the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden, winning gold medals in the decathlon and pentathlon events. His medals were taken away when it was discovered he played two seasons for a semipro baseball team, but the International … [Read more...]
Steve Christoff’s 1980 Olympic Gold Medal Consigned to Auction
The gold medal presented to a member of the 1980 U.S. Men’s Olympic Hockey Team that stunned the Soviet Union in Lake Placid is going back on the auction block. Goldin Auctions will offer the medal earned by center Steve Christoff in its Winter Auction, scheduled to begin Monday. The medal was last on the block in 2017 at the now defunct Steiner Auctions but didn't … [Read more...]
Newly Uncovered Ruth-Gehrig Photo Dates to June 1932 Contest
Photographs of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig conversing or posing for the camera aren’t rare but newly discovered images that can be dated to a specific moment in time usually perk up the ears of collectors who appreciate them. In 1932, the two icons were sharing a conversation as the Yankees battled the White Sox in Chicago and the scene was captured by a local newspaper … [Read more...]
Photo of the Day: Matty’s Last Days with the Giants
He was, unfortunately, a shell of his former self and his life would take an even more ominous turn before long but in the spring or early summer of 1916, Christy Mathewson was still revered by baseball fans and sought by photographers. A photo of the Hall of Fame posing outside the New York Giants dugout 103 years ago is making its hobby debut this month. RMY Auctions is … [Read more...]