Auction preview: Babe Ruth signed home run ball, Jackie Robinson bat

Mike Tyson's debut trunks, Jeremy Lin jersey also up for auction this week

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A game-worn Jeremy Lin jersey, a signed home run ball from Babe Ruth and a rare Carl Weathers card highlight this week's auctions.

A signed Babe Ruth home run ball, a Jackie Robinson bat from Reggie Jackson's personal collection and a video game grail lead this week's lineup of auctions.

As always, comments and analysis from cllct's Will Stern and Darren Rovell.

1986 Fleer wax pack with Michael Jordan on top

PSA has graded just 19 packs from 1986 Fleer Basketball with Michael Jordan on top. (Credit: Heritage)
PSA has graded just 19 packs from 1986 Fleer Basketball with Michael Jordan on top. (Credit: Heritage)

Closes: Saturday

Auction house: Heritage

Any kid who ripped wax knows the art of peeking through to see if there's anything good on the top or bottom. Well, this is the motherlode: a Michael Jordan rookie on the top of a 1986 Fleer Basketball pack.

PSA has graded 200,352 packs and 2,187 of them come from the 1986 Fleer Basketball set. They have graded 19 with Jordan on top.

Rovell: I think this is so cool. The pack is a PSA 8, so let's say the Jordan is a PSA 8. So we're talking about $6,000 in value there. But you are never ripping this. So what's the value of something that is cool? As of this writing, it's already at $15,600. I'd say no more than $20,000 on this.

Stern: Wax packs are underrated. The ability to display one alongside card collections is a major bonus in my mind.

1971 B.C. Lions Chevron Carl Weathers card

This Carl Weathers example could be one of the best oddball cards out there. (Credit: Heritage)
This Carl Weathers example could be one of the best oddball cards out there. (Credit: Heritage)

Closes: Friday

Auction house: Heritage

Carl Weathers played linebacker at San Diego State and got cut when he tried out for the Oakland Raiders. The more common Weathers card you'll see is the 1972 B.C. Lions card. This 1971 version has his story on the front and is a Pop 1 in the PSA Registry.

Rovell: As a big fan of the "Rocky" movie franchise, this is one of the best oddball cards out there. Love this so much. I think it's going to cost more given Weathers' recent death, but this is one of those cards that you don't expect to surface again. Up to $1,560 at the time of writing, I might be a bidder here at less than $2,500.

Stern: I’ll take this over The Rock’s Bumblebee card any day of the week. Crazy how a story can drive such serious bidding on a card nobody has ever heard of.

1991 Reggie Jackson/Rickey Henderson dual-signed check

An inscription from Rickey Henderson adds to the value of this check. (Credit: Goldin)
An inscription from Rickey Henderson adds to the value of this check. (Credit: Goldin)

Closes: Saturday

Auction house: Goldin

This is a check Reggie Jackson made out to Rickey Henderson with the memo saying "All-Star Tix." It's definitely possible given the date in mid-July. At the time, Henderson played for the Athletics, and Jackson was calling games on TV.

What makes this check special is Henderson endorsing it on the back and adding, "I am the best card player," which leaves one to believe that, perhaps, this wasn't for All-Star tickets after all. In 1991, that would be a lot of tickets — like more than 100. Jackson said, "I could never beat Rickey in a game of cards."

Rovell: I'm a check collector. This is one of the best I've ever seen, and the market agrees. At the time of this writing, bidding is at $14,640, which is a wild number. In my book, you are buying maybe three Walt Disney checks for that. This is a great novelty, but I can't imagine paying more than where it is now. Go get a great Harry Houdini or Bruce Lee item for that instead.

Stern: I love when a check tells a story and becomes more than just an autograph. This is as perfect an example of that as I’ve ever seen. A story in just six words.

Mike Tyson debut trunks

A poor signature could take away from the final price of these boxing trunks. (Credit: Goldin)
A poor signature could take away from the final price of these boxing trunks. (Credit: Goldin)

Closes: Saturday

Auction house: Goldin

These are the trunks Mike Tyson wore March 6, 1985, when he made his pro boxing debut bout against Hector Mercedes.

Rovell: This is a situation where a signature just crushes the item. These shorts not signed to anyone, photo-matched, are a $100,000 piece all day long. But you can't even read what Tyson wrote when he presented them to his sparring partner Joe Egan. Looks like "To Joe. It Way. Good Days. Mike Tyson." At its current bid of $34,000, this is a buy for me, but not much higher.

Babe Ruth signed home run barnstorming baseball

Autographed Babe Ruth balls aren't incredibly rare, but few are game-used and also signed. (Credit: Infinite Auctions)
Autographed Babe Ruth balls aren't incredibly rare, but few are game-used and also signed. (Credit: Infinite Auctions)

Closes: Saturday

Auction house: Infinite Auctions

Babe Ruth-signed balls are a pillar of the hobby. Some are more valuable than others, with the most pristine, single-signed examples reaching six-figures (like one ball believed to be the final he ever signed, which sold for $183,500 in 2020) and more run-of-the-mill examples sitting in the sub-$10,000 range, like a particularly ill-preserved ball that sold for $6,300 in June.

While Ruth-signed balls are incredibly common, a signed game-used ball, let alone one hit for a home run by Ruth himself, is a rare find.

As the game occurred during a 1924 exhibition tour, rather than an MLB game, this isn’t going to close in the same price bracket as the 1927 Ruth-signed home run ball that sold for $192,000 in 2018, but it’s still exceptional with good provenance. The autograph is certainly nothing to write home about, but I’ll take a home run ball from the Sultan of Swat over a superior auto any day.

It’s yet to receive a bid at $12,000 and has a pre-sale estimate of $20,000 to $40,000. This should end around, or close to, that lower range.

Rovell: Babe Ruth signed balls ... ho hum. Booorrrinnnng.

Stern: Maybe you didn’t read — this is a home run ball, Darren. Maybe you haven’t heard, but Ruth was pretty well-known for hitting a lot of those. Not many are signed.

Jeremy Lin New York Knicks photo-matched game-worn jersey

Jeremy Lin items remain highly collectible, especially among Knicks fans. (Credit: Infinite Auctions)
Jeremy Lin items remain highly collectible, especially among Knicks fans. (Credit: Infinite Auctions)

Closes: Saturday

Auction house: Infinite Auctions

Stern: Linsanity might no longer be a front-page story, but it remains one of the most unforgettable stretches in recent sports history — a phenomenon of epic proportions impossible to describe in words. Of course, jerseys from Lin’s year on the Knicks are a hot item for collectors, particularly given he played just 35 games for the team in 2012 (and only 27 games for more than nine minutes).

The most desirable Linsanity jerseys are from February 2012, when the undrafted free agent began his unlikely run. The jersey Lin wore during his epic face-off with Kobe Bryant sold for $42,388 in a charity auction in 2022 while others from less famous games or unattributed to any specific dates have fetched anywhere from $1,399 in 2015 (the jersey lacks documents of authenticity) to $8,100 in 2019 for a jersey matched to three games in March 2012.

Though this jersey at Lelands isn’t tied to a particularly memorable game from the point guard’s lone Knicks season, it’s matched to two games within weeks of peak Linsanity. Considering how few games Lin played, it’s likely far fewer than 35 jerseys from the season exist, as he wore some multiple times.

The $7,500 to $15,000 estimate is pretty reasonable considering the 2019 result, but with the game-worn market as hot as it has been this past year, and the die-hard nature of Knicks fandom and collectors, this could truly go for $20,000, and I wouldn’t be shocked.

Rovell: First of all, you have New York. And second, you have a moment in time which, for those of us who were in this city at the time, was complete hysteria. Guy comes out of nowhere and puts on the performances he did. But I'm a big "How important was this game?" guy. The game against Bryant, which I happened to be at, was epic. If you don't have the story, I can't see this topping $25,000, even in this market.

1953 Jackie Robinson game-used bat

This bat used by Jackie Robinson was part of Reggie Jackson's personal collection. (Credit: Goldin)
This bat used by Jackie Robinson was part of Reggie Jackson's personal collection. (Credit: Goldin)

Closes: Saturday

Auction house: Goldin

Stern: Only 20 game-used Jackie Robinson bats have ever been authenticated by PSA, with just four grading higher than this piece of lumber, which Robinson wielded during the 1953 MLB season, when he batted .329 with 109 runs scored and received an All-Star selection.

Adding to the allure is its provenance from the Reggie Jackson collection, which should add a solid premium. Goldin previously sold one of the earliest Robinson bats in PSA’s census, a 1949 Hillerich & Bradsby used in the All-Star game for $1.08 million in 2022.

Bidding is up to $427,000 (with buyer’s premium) as of Thursday morning, and I expect we will see a major result, certainly over $550,000.

Rovell: Bats are a small niche, but for those who love to collect them, they pay up. Not surprised at all by the number here.

1990 Nintendo World Championship (NWC) Grey Cartridge

This Nintendo cartridge is considered one of the grails for video game collectors. (Credit: Goldin)
This Nintendo cartridge is considered one of the grails for video game collectors. (Credit: Goldin)

Closes: Saturday

Auction house: Goldin Auctions

Stern: It’s often a surprise to those unfamiliar with video game collecting that the grail of hobbyists is not really a game itself, rather, it’s more of a trophy (though it plays games, too). At the Nintendo World Championships (NWC) in 1990, modified cartridges containing "Super Mario Bros," "Rad Racer" and "Tetris" were given to 90 finalists with a few more given out to others. Research confirms around 92 in existence today, with even fewer of the gold variants extant.

A gray cartridge last sold for $84,000 and has sold as high as $180,000 back in July 2021.

The highest price ever paid for one of the NWC carts, a Gold variant, was $350,000 in a private sale reviewed and reported by cllct earlier this year.

At a current bid of nearly $60,000 (with buyer’s premium), this copy looks poised to perform well, given the uncertainty of the video game market.

Rovell: Wait a second. There were 90 finalists and 92 have been saved. So, almost none of them were thrown out? I don't love that.

2007 Sealed Apple iPhone AT&T Original 8GB

The sealed iPhone market has cooled after an influx of inventory. (Credit: Goldin)
The sealed iPhone market has cooled after an influx of inventory. (Credit: Goldin)

Closes: Saturday

Auction house: Goldin Auctions

Stern: The sealed iPhone market has not been thriving as of late. Long gone are the days of the near-$200,000 record sales and worldwide headline results, as a flood of inventory and authenticity concerns have dulled the category.

But things are looking up, as this lot has already reached $57,340 (with buyer’s premium). That’s already the highest-price for an 8GB example in a year.

Of note: This example is graded by CAS 85+. The advent of grading sealed iPhones by CAS has been somewhat of a mystery, as the company has not replied to requests for comment on its processes. However, Goldin has sold multiple CAS-graded iPhones previously, with a like-graded example selling for $10,980 in April 2024. Additionally, the iTunes icon appears on the box, indicating a late 2007 production, as early examples did not include the app.

This could be a watershed moment for iPhone grading. It’s hard to pinpoint any other reason for this lot’s performance — unless it’s a result of the press of the Goldin Netflix show — and a successful sale could lead other auction houses to follow suit, creating a sort of industry standard.

Adding to the unpredictable dynamics of the sealed iPhone market is the fact another original iPhone, sealed and accompanied by its original FedEx shipping box, closes this weekend at LCG. That copy is only at $6,000, despite superior eye appeal and its first release designation.

Rovell: I'm still in stay away mode on iPhones. We still don't have a credible grader in my mind.

Stern: Hey, CAS, answer my messages!

Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct.

Darren Rovell is the founder of cllct.com and one of the country's leading reporters on the collectible market. He previously worked for ESPN, CNBC and The Action Network.