Lot 5. Roberto Clemente 3,000th Hit Associated Press Wire Photo. The Sept. 30, 1972 AP photo captures Clemente an instant before he makes contact with a pitch from the New York Mets’ John Matlack. At Three Rivers Stadium in the final home game of the season, Clemente drove the pitch to center field for a double. It turned out to be the last hit of his Hall of Fame career. Three months and a day later, he died in a plane crash while on a humanitarian mission. The 7” x 9” photo, transmitted electronically, is on heavy and somewhat glossy photo stock. The caption is next to the photo. Nice ex-m example.
Winning Bid $134.
Lot 37. Scarce 1908 Pittsburgh Pirates Composite Postcard with Honus Wagner and Fred Clarke. Masterpiece Jockey Club issued this postcard to promote its five-cent cigars. Titled “‘The Pirates’ Pittburg’s Great Baseball Team, 1908,” it shows 10 Pirates besides Wagner and Clarke. The back has advertising for a Pittsburgh store where Pirates game tickets could be purchased and for Liberty Havana stogies. Ten of these Pirates returned in 1909 to bring Pittsburgh a World Championship. With a number of pin holes at the top, the card is technically f-g and displays as vg.
Winning Bid $332.
Lot 38. “The Mighty Honus (Wagner)” 1909 W. W. Smith Postcard. Postmarked the day the Pirates played the Tigers in Game 2 of the World Series, this card has a related note written in pencil on the front: “I saw the game, but Oh! Pgh. lost. There was a large crowd; had to wait two hours to get on the grounds.” The Pirates lost Game 2, 7-2. They went on the capture the World Championship in seven games. The card is postmarked on the front and back. Absent the note and postmark, it would grade vg+ to ex.
Winning Bid $403.
Lot 64. 11 1958 Hires Root Beer Pittsburgh Pirates Cards with Tabs. All different. The cards are #21 Groat ex-m, 24 Friend ex-m, 27 Thomas ex-m+, 30 Skinner nm+, 31 Kline ex-m (water stain on tab only), 36 Mazeroski nm+, 45 Virdon nm+, 59 Face ex-m+, 65 Baker ex-m, 67 Kluszewski (tiny spot of paper loss in the upper right corner on the back) vg-ex and 71 Foiles nm. With the original tabs, these cards are extremely scarce.
Winning Bid $1,017.
Lot 90. Honus Wagner 1910 E93 Standard Caramel Card Graded 10 Poor 1 by SGC. A punch hole toward the bottom of the card, a couple of very small areas of paper loss and pencil check marks on the back are the primary factors that earned this card its grade. While the grade is correct, we’ve seen numerous cards with the same grade that don’t look nearly as good as this one.
Winning Bid $572.
Lot 139. Roberto Clemente Autographed 1961 Chicago Cubs Official Program. Clemente’s pencil signature, which grades nm 7 to nm-m 8, is in the lower right of the program. It intersects slightly with the autograph of Jerry Kindall, who failed twice to add a decent signature to the program. He is the only Cub to sign. The other autographs are by Pirates: Bill Virdon, Harvey Haddix, Joe Christopher, Earl Francis, ElRoy Face, Rocky Nelson, Bob Skinner, Dick Groat, Dick Schofield, Bill Burwell, Johnny Logan and Larry Foss. These signatures range from vg-ex 4 to mint 9 and average 7-8 of 10. Kevin Keating authenticated the autographs. Clemente’s could be removed from the program and used as a very nice cut as part of a display.
Winning Bid $763.
Lot 244. Pittsburgh Pirates 1909 “Pittsburg Press” Supplement with Carl Horner Photographs. To honor the Pirates as 1909 National League champs, the Pittsburgh newspaper distributed this supplement, which is approximately 12.5” x 20”. Noted photographer Carl J. Horner provided the photography and copyrighted the piece. These Pirates, including Honus Wagner, Tommy Leach, Babe Adams and manager Fred Clarke, went on to defeat the Detroit Tigers in the World Series. Twenty-five Pirates are pictured in the supplement. Among them is 2008 Hall of Fame inductee Barney Dreyfuss, the team president. The good news about this supplement is that the colors remain strong. The bad news is that it shows water stains, and the borders – outside the image area – are trimmed. More good news is that the supplement is framed to 18.5” x 26” and ready for display, and it’s offered at only -
Winning Bid $357.
Lot 245. Willie Stargell 1987 HoF Induction Press Pin and Balfour Original Artwork. Stargell’s 475 home runs, 1540 RBI and .282 career average, coupled with the leadership he provided for the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates’ “We Are Family” team, earned him a place at Cooperstown in 1987. He was a seven-time All-Star and MVP of the National League, the NLCS and the World Series in 1979. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. For the ceremonies, the Hall of Fame provided media representatives with press pins designed and produced by the Balfour Company. Offered here are one of the pins, #257, and the original artwork on which the pin is based. The pin, in black, gold, red and white, is nm-m. The nm color artwork, housed in a Balfour folder, is approximately 6.5” across on 9” x 12” art paper. The artwork is hand-colored. This one-of-a-kind display item is an attractive “must” for a Pittsburgh Pirates or Stargell collection!
Winning Bid $134.
Lot 246. Rare 1960 Pirates-Yankees World Series Scorecard Featuring Future President JFK. On Oct. 10, the day the Pittsburgh took a 3-2 game Series lead over New York at Yankee Stadium, Senator and presidential candidate John F. Kennedy appeared at two rallies in the Steel City. His image is on one side of the 7.25 x 8.5 scorecard, along with an endorsement for a local candidate for U.S. Senate. The scorecard itself is on the opposite side, with space for filling in the lineups for both World Series teams. It proclaims that “We beat ‘em in September, we’ll beat ‘em in October and Kennedy will beat ‘em in November.” The card is free of significant creases. A small stain is visible on the upper left of the Kennedy side, and the scorecard side has a tape stain in each corner. This is the first time we have seen this merger of baseball and politics. Certainly uncommon, and possibly unique!
Winning Bid $75.
Lot 247. Rare Pittsburgh Pirates 1960 World Series “World Champs” Scroll Pennant. Featuring a Pirate batting left-handed, this pennant is seen infrequently. Twenty-five Pirates, including Clemente, are listed on the scroll. Ex with the tip clipped and soiling on the gold stripe.
Winning Bid $148.
Lot 248. 1909 “San Francisco Call” Page Reporting Pittsburgh’s World Series Win Over Detroit. With Babe Adams pitching three complete-game victories, the Pirates defeated the Tigers in seven games. The Pirates’ victory occupies about one-half of the page from the Oct. 17 issue. It includes photos or drawings of Adams, Honus Wagner, Tommy Leach, the batting hero of the series, Dots Miller, Bill Abstein and manager Fred Clarke. Tape has been neatly applied to the edges of the page to prevent tearing and chipping. Ex with the page adhered to heavy cardboard backing.
Winning Bid $65.
