Artwork
Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig cards, ad displays highlight Spring Rarities Auction at Memory Lane
One hundred years ago, just as today, it was not unusual to see baseball’s biggest stars in national ad campaigns promoting products and services that might interest baseball fans.
Stars like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Walter Johnson—and later Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio—often starred in ads and marketing campaigns promoting such products as tobacco, ice cream, and even youth and kids clubs.
Many artifacts from those ads and campaigns are now rare and highly sought-after memorabilia that commands strong demand and high value on the sports collectibles market.
Memory Lane’s Inc.’s Spring Rarities Auction, which opens May 9, is filled with such rare, one-of-a-kind pieces from the greatest legends in sports. The 346-page catalog features more than 1,700 lots of items, including display pieces, uncut sheets and thousands of high-grade single cards and complete sets. The auction runs through May 31.
One of the featured items is a circa 1933 Old Gold Cigarettes tri-fold advertising display piece featuring Babe Ruth at the top of his fame as a national star and pitchman. Fully expanded, the display measures 38-by-52 inches and dates to an era when retail stores would place such colorful displays in their store windows. One of only two known to exist, it has a minimum bid of $10,000.
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Babe also hawked his share of ice cream back in the day. A circa 1922 “Babe Ruth Home Run Ice Cream” postcard shows Ruth examining and eating the treat produced by a confectionery company in El Paso, Texas. Graded PSA 2.5, the card is the better of only two known examples.
Another unique advertising display features Ruth’s longtime teammate, Lou Gehrig, touting the “Knot Hole League of America” club, which was part of Goudey’s 1934 baseball card marketing effort. For 3 cents and 20 Goudey Baseball wrappers, kids could gain membership in the club, which offered special perks, including a chance to have a photo taken with Gehrig.
The only example known to exist, the 28-by-16, framed display last sold 25 years ago and has been in a private collection ever since. It also has a minimum bid of $10,000.
Also highlighted is an original Christy Mathewson photo taken by noted Cleveland newspaper photographer Frank W. Smith, who was known for having his subjects sign his photos. Mathewson’s signed his, “Yours Truly.” The authenticated autograph (PSA 9) and photo is dated to 1911 and shows Mathewson warming up in front of fans. It has a minimum bid of $50,000.
A ticket stub from Mickey Mantle’s April 17, 1951 major league debut is also sure to attract big demand. It’s one of only 25 examples graded by PSA.
Other rare items include a 1920s American League Baseball signed by Ruth, Gehrig, Johnson, Jimmy Foxx, and 10 other players, including eight early Hall of Famers, and an album page with the autographs of Ruth, Johnson and Ty Cobb, all obtained over a three-month period a century ago.
The auction also features a large collection of pre-war cards, including T206 tobacco cards and 1933 Goudeys, as well as key rookie cards, vintage sets, unopened packs and boxes, uncut sheets, and modern and vintage singles.
The top game-used items includes a 1958 Willie Mays All-Star Game bat (PSA/DNA 8.5) and a Honus Wagner signed baseball.
