Robinson’s Jersey

LEGEND WORE APPAREL THE YEAR HE BROKE BASEBALL’S ‘COLOR BARRIER’

In 1947, Jackie Robinson secured his place in history by breaking the long-time color barrier in Major League Baseball.

“Jackie Robinson struck a crucial blow for racial equality and changed the world of sports forever,” says Chris Ivy, director of sports auctions at Heritage.

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After the Brooklyn Dodgers started Robinson at first base on April 15, 1947, he became a “symbol of courage, hope and unity for all black and white Americans, and for people throughout the world,” notes the book Stealing Home: The Story of Jackie Robinson.

The jersey Robinson wore that ground-breaking year, and at the historic Jackie Robinson Day celebration on Sept. 23, 1947, at Ebbets Field in New York, is being offered at Heritage’s Heroes of Sport Catalog Auction scheduled for Nov. 19, 2017.

It’s expected to realize at least $3 million.

“The signing of Jackie Robinson to a Major League contract is arguably the most significant single event in the long march to racial equality between the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” Ivy says. “It didn’t just change the game – it changed hearts, minds, the country itself.

“We consider this 1947 rookie jersey to be the most important article of sports memorabilia that we have ever presented at auction.”

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‘Yankee Legends Collection’ Auction Set for December

A single-owner auction featuring the “Yankee Legends Collection” is scheduled for December 2017.

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The collection consists of approximately 400 lots, including dozens of high-grade team-signed baseballs and single-signed baseballs from both Yankee greats and non-Yankee Hall of Famers.

Also included are significant documents, game-worn gloves and game-used bats from Yankee greats. Among the standout items are a 1920 Babe Ruth game-used and signed bat (expected to sell for at least $600,000), a 1927 New York Yankees team-signed baseball ($100,000), and a 1938-39 Lou Gehrig game-used bat used to belt his final home run ($800,000).

“This is one of the most comprehensive Yankees collections we’ve ever seen,” says Chris Ivy, director of sports auctions at Heritage, “and the collection does a wonderful job of telling the history of baseball’s most successful franchise through memorabilia.”