Babe Ruth 100th Anniversary Auction
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/12/2014
Sports Illustrated is arguably the most popular and widely read sports magazine ever created. First introduced in 1954, they are still publishing in its 61st season in 2014. Of the weekly magazines produced each year, the annual Sportsman of the Year magazine is one of the most widely anticipated issues, as the winner is kept a secret until production and announcement. Since its inception in 1954, Sports Illustrated has annually presented the "Sportsman of the Year" award to "the athlete or team whose performance that year most embodies the spirit of sportsmanship and achievement." Both Americans and non-Americans are eligible, though in the past the vast majority of winners have been from the United States. This fact is one reason which keeps complete collection autographed runs of this specific magazine difficult to obtain. One other reason is sometimes the exorbitant cost of obtaining individual signatures of many of the most recent award winners, as their respective official authorized signing company, such as Upper Deck or Steiner Sports, has kept authentic signed copies of their Sports of the Year magazines very limited. Lastly, some of the recipients are deceased. For example, Arthur Ashe won the award in 1993, and there was only a six week window to obtain his signature on the magazine before he succumbed to his fatal disease. At that point, Mr. Ashe was only replying to autograph requests by mail and signed very few examples.
This collection was a long term project for one advance autograph collector. Many were obtained in person, some were accumulated through the mail, while the balance were purchased outright. Each of these Sportsman of the Year magazines has been signed on the front cover by one or more depicted subjects. This incredibly extensive grouping of SI Sportsman of the Year features signatures of stars from virtually all athletic pursuits with an amazing 17 sports represented with a league leading 16 baseball players while a single winner exists from Auto Racing, Horse Racing, Gymnastics, Soccer and Swimming. There are 67 total magazines, with one signature (Pete Rozelle, 1963) just on a cover, and the 1987 Sportsman containing a separate magazine of each of the eight winners that year. The autographs are primarily sharpie examples (mostly “8-10,” averaging “8-9” with a small percentage lesser); magazines are generally lightly circulated (EX to EX/MT), although all but 14 have mailing labels. Each individual magazine has been authenticated by PSA/DNA, Upper Deck Authenticated or Steiner Sports. All items in parenthesis indicate the color of sharpie used; if ink was used the word “ink” will be listed.
Includes: 1954 – Roger Bannister; 1955 – Johnny Podres; 1956 – Bobby Morrow; 1957 – Stan Musial (no mailing label); 1958 – Rafer Johnson (library stamp on cover); 1959 – Ingemar Johansson (mailing label removed); 1960 – Arnold Palmer; 1961 – Jerry Lucas; 1962 – Terry Baker; 1963 – Pete Rozelle (cover only); 1964 – Ken Venturi; 1965 – Sandy Koufax; 1966 – Jim Ryun (with Bible verse); 1967 – Carl Yastrzemski; 1968 – Bill Russell; 1969 – Tom Seaver; 1970 – Bobby Orr; 1971 – Lee Trevino; 1972 – John Wooden and Billie Jean King (both signed, with Wooden adding “Thanks for your interest”); 1973 – Jackie Stewart; 1974 – Muhammad Ali (silver sharpie, Full PSA/DNA LOA); 1975 – Pete Rose; 1976 – Chris Evert (gold sharpie); 1977 – Steve Cauthen; 1978 – Jack Nicklaus; 1979 – Willie Stargell and Terry Bradshaw; 1980 – Men’s Olympic Hockey Team (20 signatures with Craig and Eruzione, mailing label removed); 1981 – Sugar Ray Leonard;1982 – Wayne Gretzky; 1983 – Mary Decker Slaney; 1984 – Mary Lou Retton and Edwin Moses; 1985 – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (signed Abdul Jabbar); 1986 – Joe Paterno; 1987 – Eight different magazines w/Rory Sparrow, Patty Sheehan, Reggie Williams, Chip Rivers, Bob Bourne, Judi Brown King, Dale Murphy Kip Keino (each magazine individually signed); 1988 – Orel Hershiser (no mailing label); 1989 – Greg Lemond; 1990 – Joe Montana; 1991 – Michael Jordan (no mailing label); 1992 – Arthur Ashe (personalized For Thomas, mailing label removed – MOST DIFFICULT ISSUE TO FIND SIGNED); 1993 – Don Shula (HOF 97); 1994 – Bonnie Blair and Johann Olav Koss; 1995 – Cal Ripken, Jr.; 1996 – Tiger Woods; 1997 – Dean Smith (silver sharpie); 1998 – Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa; 1999 – U.S. Women’s Soccer Team (Brandi Chastain and Mia Hamm only – no mailing label); 2000 – Tiger Woods; 2001 – Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson;2002 – Lance Armstrong; 2003 – Tim Duncan and David Robinson; 2004 – Boston Red Sox (13 signatures w/Schilling, Ortiz, Damon and Ramirez); 2005 – Tom Brady; 2006 – Dwayne Wade (no mailing label); 2007 – Brett Favre (no mailing label); 2008 – Michael Phelps (no mailing label); 2009 – Derek Jeter (no mailing label); 2010 – Drew Brees (silver sharpie - no mailing label); 2011 – Pat Summitt and Mike Krzyzewski (no mailing label); 2012 – Lebron James (silver sharpie - no mailing label); 2013 – Peyton Manning (no mailing label).
To accumulate this collection would take a Ruthian endeavor, which would take years as many issues are extremely hard to locate, and the cost factor would be prohibitive on an individual basis for many collectors. This is your opportunity to reap the rewards of a lifetime’s passion of one prior collector with one Bambino blast.