The Huggins & Scott Summer Auction, which ends Thursday night, will include items of the Georgia Peach, Charlie Hustle and the Iron Horse. Throw in an item from the creator of the Tin Lizzie and the intrigue is turned up a notch.
The auction ends Thursday night, beginning with the 30-minute rule at 11 p.m. EDT.
As usual, sports cards and memorabilia take center stage, but a baseball signed by automobile magnate Henry Ford will muscle aside some of sports’ biggest names for attention.
Ford, whose Model-T automobile was affectionately known as the Tin Lizzie, signed specially manufactured baseballs to coincide with the International Exposition World’s Fair in Chicago held in 1933 and 1934. The baseballs were signed during the Ford Safety Glass Exhibit at the Ford Trade School in New York on Dec. 16, 1933, according to the Detroit Free Press.
Ford was in New York for the Ford Exposition of Progress, which celebrated 30 years of development in the automobile business. According to the Brooklyn Times Union in December 1933, more than 900,000 people attended the Exposition during its first nine days.
The Safety Glass Exhibit at the Chicago World’s Fair — dubbed “A Century of Progress” — allowed patrons to throw baseballs at a glass target inside a tunnel enclosed by a screen. The ball would ricochet off the glass, demonstrating the safety of the new windshield glass.
Another autographed ball should generate some interest as the Huggins & Scott Auction winds down. It’s a baseball autographed by Ty Cobb after a May 3, 1924, game at St. Louis. The Tigers lost 6-5 to the Browns that day, and although Cobb went 1-for 4, it caused his batting average to drop from .433 to .422.
Nineteenth-century cards also will be featured, with 1888 Allen & Ginter N28 cards of Cap Anson (graded PSA 5) and Charles Comiskey (a PSA 7). Turning to football, 18 cards of Yale captain and quarterback Harry Beecher in the 1888 Goodwin Champions N162 will be up for bid. The Beecher card is considered the first football card, and it was part of the Goodwin set, which were included in packages of Old Judge and Gypsy Queen cigarettes in 1888.
For fans of more modern football players, say, the 1950s and 1960s, an unopened 1959 Topps cello pack that features Browns running back Jim Brown is also up for grabs (high bid as of Tuesday was $11,250). Also generating interest is the 8th best 1963 Fleer baseball set on PSA’s Set Registry with each card graded Mint 9 ($7,700 as of now).
There are still many big-ticket items, including a 1909 11 T-206 error card of Sherry Magee; a 1951 Bowman Mickey Mantle graded Ex-Mint by BGS and a scrapbook of 230 T-206 baseball cards that feature 55 Hall of Famers and five cards of Cobb — including three portrait cards.
A curious item is a 1922 Babe Ruth barnstorming ad that appeared in the Boston American. Ruth was suspended in December 1921 for almost seven weeks of the 1922 season because he barnstormed with several teammates after the World Series. Teammates Bob Meusel and Bill Piercy also were punished by Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis. The ad asks, rather cheekily, “Who plays for Ruth and Meusel — while the ‘ban’ is on?”
The answer? When the Yankees opened the 1922 season at Washington on April 12, Norm McMillan started in right field and Chick Fewster played left field. It was McMillan’s first game in the major leagues.
There are plenty of other auction items, including autographs of Cy Young, Jackie Robinson, Tom Brady, John Belushi and Michael Jordan; game-used jerseys of Mike Mussina and Paul Blair; a complete PSA 9 graded set of 1963 Fleer baseball; a 1914 Cracker Jack card of Joe Jackson (graded at PSA 1.5); and a 1984 Topps football complete wax case that currently tops all bidding in the auction at over $14,000.
The entire auction, including recently added “Web Gems” is available on the company’s website.
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