CHAMBERSBURG – Items signed by baseball’s greatest legend, Babe Ruth, and the New York Yankees’ most recent superstar, Derek Jeter, will be among the hobby treasures offered for sale at an August 15 auction in Chambersburg. Gateway Gallery Auction, 643 Kriner Road, is selling a baseball signed by Ruth and a bat and high school jersey signed by Jeter, along with more than 350 other lots of sports cards and memorabilia.
The sale will begin at 10 a.m. and include single cards of baseball legends, sets, partial sets, autographed cards and baseballs, and hundreds of collectible cards primarily from the 1950s. The items are being sold for multiple collectors. For a complete listing, view www.gatewayauction.com or call 263-6512 or 1-800-315-3265 for more information. There will be an opportunity to view the items prior to the sale, both online and at the auction location. Bidding will occur in-person and online.
In addition to the Ruth and Jeter items, Gateway will auction rookie cards of Ted Williams, Willie Mays, Ernie Banks, Harmon Killebrew, Don Larsen, Cal Ripken Jr. and Nellie Fox, a native of St. Thomas and a former Chambersburg resident.
A highlight of the auction will be the sale of 15 team-signed baseballs from the 1950s, including the Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers. Hall of Famer Fox is believed to have obtained some – if not all – of the signatures. The baseballs were presented to Fox’s friend John Cook, former longtime groundskeeper at Henninger Field in Chambersburg, during a ceremony in the 1950s. The Yankees’ ball is signed by Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford and other Yankees’ stars, and the Dodgers ball is signed by Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Gil Hodges, Pee Wee Reese and other popular players. Autographed baseballs of all of the teams from the 1950s will be sold, except the Giants.
Hundreds of cards – both stars and commons – will be sold from the 1952 Topps and 1954 Bowman and Topps sets. Other autographed items are signed by Mantle, Ripken, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Hank Greenberg, Carl Hubbell, Bill Dickey, Brooks Robinson, Don Drysdale and the 2006 Yankees’ team. Publications include the first two issues of Sports Illustrated, with the cards attached, and Yankees’ programs from the 1940s to 2003.
More recent cards will be available, too, including about 75 uncataloged lots sold at after the cataloged items.
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MEDIA ALERT: For photos, more information about this sale or to arrange an interview with Denise Cook or Kathy Leedy, please contact Lee Brouwer at 717-263-6512 or by email lee@gatewayauction.com.
