Memorabilia

Reggie Jackson Signed Topps Baseball Card Contracts

by

Here’s a neat piece of hobby history: Reggie Jackson’s signed Topps Baseball Card Contract from August 1971.

The piece was available in Ron Oser Enterprises’ December 2000 catalog and was described as follows: “Very desirable contract for his appearance on bubble gum cards signed in blue ink ‘Reggie Jackson.’ Also signed by Sy Berger, the famous President of Topps Chewing Gum. This August 14, 1971 contract extends for two years the existing contract that Topps had with Reggie. He raked in a whole $75 for this transaction. Signed baseball card contracts are quite sought after, as the signatures are unequivocally genuine. LOA from Mike Gutierrez/MastroNet.”

The contract itself is an “Agreement between: Reginald M. Jackson player, and TOPPS CHEWING GUM, INC.”

It reads, “We, the undersigned, hereby agree to extend the term of our present contract, plus extensions, if any, for an additional period of two years or two full Baseball Seasons, as the case may be, on the same terms and conditions contained in said contract. This extension agreement shall be governed by the Laws of the State of New York. A bonus payment of $75.00 will be due the player the first time after signing this extension that he is or becomes an active member of a Major Leagae Baseball Team between May 15 and August 15.”

I found another contract on Cooperstown Expert. They wrote, “Shown here is Jackson’s contract with Topps Chewing Gum to appear on baseball cards for 1974, ’75, and ’76. Signed by Jackson at the bottom, this deal calls for the slugger to receive a $75 bonus payment.”

And REA included the following signed contract extension between Jackson and Topps, along with a few signed checks in the fall of 2019.

Wouldn’t it be amazing if a single collector ever managed to snag a complete run of Reggie Jackson Topps contracts?

1936-1992 Run of World Series Programs

by

The early ’90s Sotheby’s Important Baseball Cards and Sports Memorabilia auctions were packed with incredible material; one example is this run of 93 World Series Series Programs dating from 1936-1992 (including, of course, my favorite, The Out Of This World Series).

This particular Sotheby’s auction was held in March 1993, and the lot had an expected closing price of $12k—$15k. Here’s the full description:

Run of World Series Programs: 1936-1992, ninety three programs, complete run from 1936 through 1992 inclusive, a very significant group which includes the Miracle Mets, every Yankee Championship from 1936 with Gehrig and DiMaggio through 1962 and the Mantle/Maris years, the great New York battles of the late 40’s and into the mid 50’s between the Giants, Dodgers and Yankees, every great star is featured, including Ted Williams, Jackie Robinson, Tom Seaver, Roy Campanella, Sandy Koufax, Al Kaline, Reggie Jackson, Pete Rose and up through to today’s modern day superstars, World Series programs are very substantial, loaded with pictures and records, and historically significant, exceptional condition with no program less than excellent but overall most programs are near mint or better condition.

1934 Quaker Oats Babe Ruth Advertising Sign

by

In 1993, Sotheby’s offered this Quaker Oats Babe Ruth Advertising Sign in their Important Baseball Cards and Sports Memorabilia auction. Sign me up for this club!

The sign was described as a multi-color, large (16 by 20 inches) cardboard die-cut stand-up advertising sign showing prices for the Quaker Oats Babe Ruth baseball club.

REA sold an identical, possibly the same, display in the spring of 2008 for $1292; they dated it to 1934 and acknowledged it had been restored.

In the description, REA noted Quaker Oats produced other similar signs for grocery stores. Here’s another one I found online, dated to 1935.

If you’re still interested in joining the Babe Ruth Baseball Club, membership cards pop up for sale from time to time. This one, with an original envelope, sold for $168 in 2023.

More about these Babe Ruth advertising signs and the Baseball Club in future posts!

2001 Barry Bonds Full Home Run Ticket Run

by

Bonds shattered the single-season HR mark with 73 in 2001, and someone managed to put together a complete run of 61 full tickets from each of his home run games. 

The lot was available for sale in Mastro’s April 2002 catalog, and each was described as being in NM/MT to MT condition.

The keys were home run #60 on September 6 vs. the Diamondbacks, #70, which tied Mark McGwire for the single-season home run mark on October 4 vs. the Astros, #’s 71-72 when he set the new single-season home run mark on October 5 vs. the Dodgers, #73 when he established the new record on the last game of the season on October 6 vs. the Dodgers, and #6 on April 17 vs. the Dodgers which was his 500th career home run.

A lot of the tickets were obtained from season ticket holders by a collector who started the set on the first game of the season.

1958-59 Boston Celtics Team Autographed Poster

by

This incredible 1958-59 Boston Celtics Team Autographed Poster was offered in Sotheby’s Important Baseball Cards and Sports Memorabilia auction in June 2005. It included all 11 players from the NBA Champion team, plus coach Red Auerbach and trainer Buddy LeRoux.

The 1958-59 Celtics swept the Minneapolis Lakers in the 1959 NBA Finals, then known as the NBA World Championship Series, and kicked off the Celtics streak of eight straight titles between 1959 and 1966.

The Near mint to mint-conditioned image was described as 20” x 24” in size and with flawless signatures by Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, Sam Jones, and Bill Sharman. It came with an LOA from PSA/DNA.

I found the following example of the same picture, but without the text beneath the image showing, on eBay (June 2004) for just under $3k, accompanied by an LOA from Beckett. The autographs are in slightly different locations for each player, so it’s a unique piece.

1953 Spic and Span Dry Cleaners Milwaukee Braves Shirt Covering

by

How many of you still use dry cleaners? And those of you who do, how many of you save the hanger bags? Well, here’s one that survived in someone’s closet for over fifty years!

It’s a circa 1953 Spic and Span Dry Cleaners Pictorial Shirt Covering. The Milwaukee-based dry cleaning company had a licensing agreement with the local Braves team from at least 1953 to 1957. 

The auction lot for the shirt covering described the bag as containing 12 different portrait sketches of popular players of the Milwaukee Braves, including Warren Spahn. They wrote that the portraits on the bag are 12 of the 13 known Warmuth designs that went into the company’s 1954 card set, so they felt comfortable placing the bag’s date of issue.

1953 World Heavy-Weight Championship Marciano Vs. Walcott Tickets

by

I ran across this ad, from Mastro of all people, in the July 1981 issue of Trader Speaks, looking to sell or trade full unused mint tickets for the world heavy-weight championship boxing match between Rocky Marciano and Jersey Joe Walcott at Chicago Stadium. 

He mentions having five different tickets, each with clear portrait photos of the boxers, for $10 each (or for trade). 

After exploring the PSA registry, it looks like Mastro was advertising a combination of phantom tickets for April 10th (white, orange, pink, and cream) and the actual fight on May 15th (blue and orange variations). Here are all the examples from Heritage Auctions.

When PSA first started grading tickets, I don’t believe they were not putting the ticket color on the slab, like the following example.