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...]
Decades-Old Dodgers Financial Documents at Auction
A trove of financial documents for the Dodgers from 1924-1965 which belonged to minority owner James A. Mulvey are on the auction block. Consigned to Nate D. Sanders Auctions directly by the Mulvey family, the never before seen data includes reports prepared by the Dodgers' accounting firm, with detailed income statements and balance sheets, usually on a quarterly or … [Read more...]
Hello, Jackie: Original 1947 Robinson Arrival Photo Leads off RMY Sale
A fresh-to-market original news photo dating to one of the most famous events in baseball history leads off RMY Auctions’ latest online catalog. The 7 x 8 ½ inch Acme News image shows Jackie Robinson posed in front of the Brooklyn Dodgers’ clubhouse door on April 10, 1947. The photo is different than the more commonly seen image of Robinson with his glove raised. … [Read more...]
Pull Up a Chair and Check Out Vin Scully’s First Contract With Dodgers
To hear Vin Scully call a baseball game was like watching a master painter at work. Scully always sketched the big picture, but it was the details, the nuance, and storytelling ability that set him apart during his 67-year career as the voice of the Dodgers. What a bargain for the Dodgers, who hired Scully in 1950 when the franchise was located in Brooklyn. Scully’s best … [Read more...]
Auction Offers Chance to Go Cruising with a Babe (Uniform)
Babe Ruth’s name “is the most appealing in the game” of baseball, a sportswriter noted in 1938, three years after the Bambino's retirement. The Queen Mary 2 is the Grande Dame of luxury ocean liners. These two giants will share the spotlight for an upcoming auction that will feature the uniform the Bambino wore in 1938 when he was a first-base coach for the Brooklyn … [Read more...]
Roy Campanella Jersey Expected to Bring 6-Figure Price Was Minor League Hand-Me-Down
Yogi Berra may have won the battle for many of the headlines in New York but the Brooklyn Dodgers dominated the National League from the late 1940s through the mid-1950s, thanks in large part to their own Hall of Fame catcher. There wasn’t much Roy Campanella couldn’t do as his three MVP awards would attest. His career was cut short by the tragic auto accident that … [Read more...]
Remembering ‘Newk’: 5 Cards of Don Newcombe
Don Newcombe, who died Tuesday at the age of 92, was an imposing, hard-throwing pitcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers. He won 20 or more games three times during his 10-year major-league career and 19 games in 1950. He might have topped the 20-win plateau a few more times, but he lost the 1952 and 1953 seasons to military service. “Newk” stood 6-foot-4 and weighed 220 pounds. … [Read more...]
Jackie Robinson’s Barrier-Breaking Contracts Returning to Auction
Jackie Robinson’s earliest professional baseball contracts are going back on the auction block. Nearly a year after being offered but failing to meet a reserve price, the two historic pacts dating to his signing with the Montreal Royals in 1945 and the parent Brooklyn Dodgers organization in 1947, will be offered by Goldin Auctions. The two contracts are again being … [Read more...]
‘Partial Diamond’ Variation Discovered For 1955 Topps Jackie Robinson Card
The variation is a partial diamond, and it may prove to be a gem for collectors. Fans of the 1955 Topps set and those who collect Jackie Robinson have a new variation to chase. The variation itself is not new, but its discovery is quite recent. The 1955 Topps card of Robinson, No. 50, shows a Dodgers logo inside a red diamond in the upper left-hand corner of the card. … [Read more...]
Letter From O’Malley To Concerned Brooklyn Fan Part of Lelands Auction
There is a website called the Brooklyn Board, where people who have moved away from New York City’s “borough of churches” reflect upon their childhood memories. About a dozen years ago, if a poster to the board wanted to incite an argument, all he or she had to do was write something like, “Say, that Walter O’Malley wasn’t a bad guy after all, and he had no choice but to … [Read more...]