Opening Day Auction 2014
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 4/26/2014
If you grew up watching baseball in the 1960s and 1970s the 500 home run club was a pretty elite group and after Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s all-time record in 1974, the top five remained entrenched in their positions for quite some time: Hank Aaron, 755, Babe Ruth 714, Willie Mays 660, Frank Robinson, 586 and Harmon Killebrew, 573 until the current wave of 21st century sluggers began to encroach the ranks. This lot of three signed and handsomely framed photos includes three of the legendary old top-five beginning with the man who beat the Babe, Hank Aaron who signed this 8” x 10” full color image of himself holding the ball he hit for home run 715 aloft moments after surpassing Ruth on April 8, 1974 in Atlanta. Aaron’s signature appears in bold blue Sharpie and the matted and framed 16” x 12” display includes an engraved name plate reading: Hank Aaron All-Time Home Run King Hall of Fame – 1982. This large 16” x 20” black and white portrait of Frank Robinson in an elegantly mounted 30” x 25” frame captures the muscular raw-boned youngster in his early days with the Cincinnati Reds. Frank Robinson burst on the big league scene knocking a rookie-record 38 home runs with a league-leading 122 runs scored capturing the NL Rookie of the Year award in 1956 and signed this serious looking photo in bright silver Sharpie with a “ROY 56” inscription. Six-time American League Home Run leader, Harmon Killebrew hit more than 40 home runs in a season eight times and won the league MVP award in 1969 while launching 49 long balls with 140 RBI for the AL west champion Minnesota Twins. This 11” x 14” dual image, color portrait in a 16” x 20” mounted frame features Killebrew in a batters stance and on-deck pose with a “Harmon Killebrew, 573 Homeruns, 1984 Hall of Fame” logo and is signed by Killebrew in bold blue sharpie. All three signatures are PSA/DNA pre-certified and the entire lot represents a time when a select few power hitter in the game stood out among their peers.