New York Yankees 1951 Autographed Team Baseball Offered by Heritage
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2005 in Dallas, Heritage has assembled a tremendous looking collection of Sports
memorabilia. For many collectors, the highlight is going to be a baseball that
has been autographed by the members of the 1951 New York Yankees.
Why is
this ball so special? Chris Ivy, Director of Heritage Sports Collectibles tells
Scoop: “In post-war New York Yankees autograph collecting, it simply
doesn’t get any better than this. While many immortal World Championship squads
have called the Bronx home in the past six decades, the 1951 team brings
something to the table that no other pinstriped crew could match: the
single-season convergence of Joe DiMaggio, the ‘Yankee Clipper’ and Mickey
Mantle, the ‘Commerce Comet.'”
“As the torch was passed at the center of
a thirty-three year stretch that found one of these two top-tier Hall of Famers
occupying the center field grass of Yankee Stadium, only a small quantity of
baseballs offering genuine signatures from both was produced,” continued Ivy.
“Often DiMaggio, one of the most famous men in the country in 1951, would turn
over signing duties to clubhouse assistants. And the rookie Mantle struggled
considerably in his first season, and spent more than a third of it training in
the minors. Any 1951 team ball blessed by authentic autographs of both Mantle
and DiMaggio is held with the highest reverence in the collecting community as a
result.”
Jonathan Scheier, HSC Consignment Director feels that “This,
however, is not just any such ball, this is, truly, the most desirable 1951
Yankees team ball on earth.”
Also listed inside this auction is a
Michael Jordan game-worn jersey. No player energized his sport more than Michael
Jordan. To have one of his jerseys is a dream of any sports collector. Ivy had
this to say about the item and Jordan: “I don’t think anybody needs to make a
case for Jordan’s relevance to the game of basketball. Clearly the three or four
people on earth who don’t understand this already will not be among those in the
hunt for this piece when the bidding starts. It does bear noting, however, that
the jersey dates from a particularly significant era, a defining one, in
Jordan’s career. The 1987-88 season was really the one that caused the
basketball world to realize that Jordan wasn’t just a pretty good player. It
became clear that he very well could be a legend in the making.”
When it
comes to the Yankees baseball and the Jordan jersey, the staff at Heritage is
just as excited as the fans. To have DiMaggio and Mantle on a single autographed
baseball is a real coup. For details on this item, as well as the other great
items being featured in the Signature Auction, please visit www.heritgesportscollectibles.com.
