Jackie Robinson’s handwritten report from his time as student at UCLA sold for more than $28,900 Wednesday at Weiss Auctions.
The report, which is titled “Three popular sports” and includes Robinson’s name and signature, is dated March 16, 1940. Robinson was the school’s first athlete to letter in four sports: football, basketball, track and baseball, which was his weakest sport after he hit just .097 as the school’s shortstop in 1940.
In the report, Robinson writes that baseball is the most popular of the three sports (baseball, hockey and football), calling it the “national pastime” and saying it is “played and enjoyed by young and old.”
The report was graded an 86, according to a marking on the title page of the report. According to Weiss Auctions, it was purchased from the estate of UCLA assistant coach A.J Sturzenegger.
Items from Robinson’s pre-MLB career have attracted major attention at auction in recent years.
A ticket to his last football game at UCLA in 1940, graded PSA 2, sold for $6,900 in 2022. A baseball signed by the 1940 UCLA baseball team, including Robinson, sold earlier this month for $3,355.
A Type 1 photo of Robinson playing football at UCLA, described as one of the earliest Robinson photos extant, sold for $7,783.20 in September.
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct.