Summer Premium Card and Memorabilia Auction Closing August 7 & 9
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/8/2021
Before the Steroid Era when home runs were flying out of ball parks at record paces, baseball had charismatic home run hitters that became household names. Ruth, Aaron, Maris! Names of record holders that will not and should not be forgotten especially when compared to hitters who had synthetic help along the way.
That’s what makes this offered First Day Cover marking the Grand Opening of the Baseball Hall of Fame so special. It features autographs of three of the all-time great home run hitters in Babe Ruth (154-game single-season HR record), Roger Maris (held HR record for 162-game season for 37 years) and Hank Aaron (broke Ruth’s all-time HR record in 1974). The trio offer remarkably clean and legible signatures with a flourish only seen of the athletes of the past. This truly rare piece may be the only one in existence that features this autograph trio of home run kings.
The First Day envelope is postmarked “Cooperstown, N.Y. June 12, 1939, 9 A.M,” and features the Baseball Centennial stamp. It is addressed to Russell E. Silvius, a renowned autograph seeker that collected most of his signatures through the mail. Items of his collection have appeared on the secondary market before, but this may be one of the best and prolific given the painstaking lengths it took to acquire these signatures.
This clean First Day Cover is encapsulated by PSA, with the signatures on the spectacular piece graded MINT 9 by PSA/DNA (84234672). A coveted baseball collectible celebrating three of the most important players in the game’s long history!