Panini America has finally landed Kevin Garnett for an autograph deal. He’ll have signed cards in Immaculate NBA, due out early next month.
A notoriously tough signer, Garnett’s autograph is…well…interesting.
Of course, Zion Williamson cards will become more plentiful as we get into the NBA season, which is set to open in less than a month. Look for him in more than two dozen products between now and next summer. He’s not the only promising rookie set to debut, however.
Cynopsis Sports spoke with Panini’s Vice President of Marketing, Jason Howarth, about their plans for Williamson and the rest of this year’s class and the general state of the trading card industry.
There’s no doubt we’ll have another million dollar card sale within a couple of weeks. Bidding for the T206 Wagner in Mile High’s “The Event” auction is almost there if you factor in the buyer’s premium. The Cobb with Cobb back bidding is nothing to sneeze at either.
You’ve probably seen the image of Jackie Robinson entering the Dodgers clubhouse just after he was signed by Branch Rickey’s Brooklyn Dodgers in April of 1947. An original copy of that photo is on the auction block and generating quite a buzz.
The Culver News photo was published the day after it was taken. It’s now at SCP Auctions where bidding has passed $50,000 with the buyer’s premium factored in. It could take its place among the most expensive sports photos ever sold when the auction ends later this week.
The Dodgers announced they were purchasing Robinson’s contract from their Montreal minor league club during an Ebbets Field exhibition game with them on April 10. Robinson showed up at the clubhouse door the next afternoon when the Dodgers were to play another exhibition game against the Yankees and the photo was taken. He emerged wearing his Dodger uniform a bit later, thus becoming the first modern African-American player on a big league roster.
Hundreds of papers across the country carried the now iconic photo of Robinson visually crossing the color line. How many original copies have survived isn’t known, but it’s certainly a small number.
Here’s a story about OC Dugout, a long-running sports card and memorabilia shop in Orange County, CA.
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