Hello Hobby Enthusiasts,
Once again, it’s auction time! As of today, Wednesday July 23rd, the preview is available for viewing and bidding will begin tomorrow, closing on August 14th for Session I and August 15th for Session II. We’re extremely proud of this event, which is highlighted by PSA Set Registry highly ranked 1933 George C. Miller, 1948 Leaf football, 1948 Bowman football and 1948 Bowman baseball complete sets. Other amazing items of interest include a game-used Joe DiMaggio Yankees jersey, a rare T206 Eddie Plank, a 1986-87 Fleer basketball unopened wax box and a 1939 Baseball Hall of Fame First Day Cover signed by inductees Ruth, Cobb, Speaker, Johnson, Young and others. And that’s just a small sample because there are literally hundreds of complete sets from the 1950s on up, including many extremely scarce test issues. Along with DiMaggio, game-used jerseys of Joe Namath, Walter Payton, Joe Montana, Brett Favre, Lawrence Taylor, Jim Kelly, and Jerry Rice as well as vintage garments of Vern Stephens, Frank Crosetti and Forrest Gregg are available. This is sure to be an a tremendous event!
Afraid you might miss out because you’ll be in Cleveland attending the National Sports Collectors Convention? That’s not a problem, we’ll be there too! In fact, we’ll be exhibiting some of the outstanding items described above and a whole lot more. This year’s National promises to be a memorable event and the addition of Johnny Football and King James to “The Rock and Roll Capital of the World” will only add to the frenzy. Stop on by Booth 225 & 229, say hello to the Mile High crew and take a look! You can even pick up an auction catalog while you’re there. We will also be taking consignments for the Fall auction, determined to make it even more spectacular than this magnificent offering. As always, you can register and bid through our website (www.milehighcardco.com) or call (303) 840-2784. Hope to see you in Cleveland!
Thirteen years had passed since the 36-card National Chicle set had made its debut and the football card collecting world was still without a mainstream issue, in large part due to shortages of materials from World War II. But with the defeat of fascism safely in the rear view mirror and an economy that was fiercely recovering from a decades-long depression, Bowman and Leaf stepped forward in 1948 to compete for gridiron greatness. Bowman produced a straightforward, professional assemblage with sharp black and white photography and clean graphics. Meanwhile, Leaf’s set featured unrealistically colorized pasteboards fraught with spelling errors, centering flaws, color variations and short prints. In any other industry, Leaf’s effort would have run them out of business, but collectors’ inability to resist a challenge has made the 1948 Leaf football set one of the most popular sports cards issues ever produced. Mile High Card Company is proud to offer one of the finest collections ever assembled, ranked #3 on the PSA Set Registry with a GPA of 7.444.
Designed to be a simple 98-card assemblage, the master set swells to a whopping 145 pasteboards when you consider all the variations. Correcting the obvious spelling errors is understandable, but most variations come from unexplained color changes in the background, the jersey number, the uniform color, or even the player’s name. Perhaps Leaf had difficulties with the equipment that affected their color mixing, though a more cynical theory is that Leaf intentionally created these variations to keep collectors buying their product in search of building a “complete set.” Not without precedent, Leaf’s policy of “skip-numbering” various other sets has been criticized as a way to exploit kids into spending their allowance, searching for cards that didn’t exist.
While highly-coveted for its amazing selection of Hall of Famers making their pasteboard debut, the trouble starts and ends with the first and last cards, typical for most issues but magnified by the soft cardboard and poor quality control of the ’48 Leaf series. Sid Luckman’s rookie card #1 is rarely seen in a grade higher than PSA 5 and card #98 of Al DiMarco is usually off-center, resulting in just five PSA 7 graded specimens and just one at PSA 8 with none graded higher. In fact, the large majority of the cards in the set are single-pop PSA 8s with only one out of every 200 on the PSA pop report listed at the elite status of PSA 9. With over 12,000 total submissions from the set, there has yet to be a single specimen to land a grade of GEM MINT.
This is undeniably one of the finest complete football sets ever assembled, not just for the issue but for any football card set ever produced. Virtually every card in the collection is an extreme rarity in its respective grade that few collectors have had the opportunity to see, much less own. It begins with one of the most coveted specimens in the hobby; a PSA 8 example of Sid Luckman’s rookie card #1. One of just five with none graded higher, the PSA 8 Luckman is the cornerstone of the collection, but the amazing list of elite-grade Hall of Fame rookie cards seems almost endless: #3 Bulldog Turner PSA 8, 4 Doak Walker PSA 8 (none graded higher), 6 Bobby Layne PSA 7, 16 Pete Pihos PSA 8, 19 George McAfee PSA 8, 22 Steve Van Buren PSA 8 (one graded higher), 26 Bob Waterfield PSA 8, 29 Charlie Trippi PSA 7, 34 Sammy Baugh PSA 8, 36 Bill Dudley PSA 8, 37 George Conner PSA 8 (one graded higher), 52 Leo Nomellini PSA 7, and 54 Chuck Bednarik PSA 6. Al DiMarco’s card #98 closes out the collection at PSA 7, one of five with just one graded higher. In all, over half of the set (51 of 98) is graded PSA 8 and 14 of the cards are at the highest grade ever assessed by PSA. Quite simply, this is an incredibly special collection and one of the finest complete sets Mile High Card Company has had the honor of presenting.
Because of extremely limited distribution, little is known about the 32-card set other than it features artistic renderings of actual photographs with a presentation similar to Diamond Stars cards and can easily be mistaken by collectors unfamiliar with the Miller collection. The portraits on the George C. Miller cards have a less refined appearance compared to Diamond Stars cards and are identifiable by the backdrop, a striped blue and red sky pattern, and no player names on the front. The reverse is unique, offering the players’ vital information, 1932 and career statistics, a checklist of the entire set, and details to redeem the set for a prize. Two players are represented from each of the 16 major league teams, with Jimmy Foxx, Dizzy Dean and Lefty Grove leading a group of stars and Hall of Famers. It is unknown as to why the Yankees are represented by Red Ruffing and Bill Dickey instead of Ruth and Gehrig; perhaps the two Yankee legends’ request for compensation was too high. Two different reverses were produced: Type I has larger, brighter print with the names of Foxx and Klein spelled incorrectly, revised to the correct spelling on the Type II reverse. As with other companies that offered a prize for the redemption of a complete set, one “chase-card” was extremely short-printed to increase sales from patrons determined to assemble a complete set. Just like Goudey’s 1933 Napoleon Lajoie and U. S. Caramel’s Charles Lindstrom and William McKinley cards, the George C. Miller card of Paul “Ivy” Andrews ranks as one of the most formidable acquisitions in card collecting. So difficult to obtain, PSA doesn’t even consider it part of the set, viewing it as a “bonus card” on the PSA Set Registry. The cards were offered in wax wrappers touting “National Ball Game Toffee” and “American Ball Game Toffee”, the themed wrappers giving collectors a better opportunity to acquire the players of their choice and more accurately target the goal of assembling a complete set. Less than 5 wrappers of each are known to exist and an American League specimen recently sold at auction for over $5,000.
Several facts contribute to the extreme rarity of the George C. Miller collection. The Miller Candy Co. was much smaller than other companies that issued sets and the cards were only available in the Greater Boston area. Also, the cards were marketed for children, not known for their ability to take great care of … well, much of anything, and a complete set was redeemable for a ball, glove, or ticket to a big league game. The cards that were sent in had the bottom edge cut off or had holes punched in them and were returned to the sender along with their prize, assuring that the cards could not be sent again. Quite often, the children would then discard the damaged pasteboards having already reached their goal of acquiring the prize. Even if a forward-thinking collector managed to sidestep those pitfalls, staining from the toffee candy was a common occurrence and lessened the chance of retaining high-grade specimens right from the start. As a result, less than 3% of all George C. Miller cards submitted to PSA have graded above PSA 6.
So just how rare are George C. Miller cards? The answer is … very! Even as early as the 1950s, George C. Miller cards were rarely encountered and considered as scarce as many obscure issues from the late 1800s. The DeLong set, also from 1933, is considered difficult, yet the 649 George C. Miller submissions to PSA is just 26% of the total number of DeLongs that PSA has graded. Each of the four Babe Ruth cards in the 1933 Goudey set has a higher submission rate than the entire George C. Miller set. In fact, the most highly submitted card from the set (Charlie Gehringer – 29) pales in comparison to the number of 1933 Goudey Napoleon Lajoie cards that PSA has evaluated (81), an example that routinely sells for tens of thousands of dollars.
I know what you’re thinking …. Are you crazy!?! What about 1927? A home run record that stood for 34 years until beaten by Roger Maris (*) and the most legendary team ever! All true, but keep in mind we’re focusing on the player, not the team, and the criteria is dominance, not records. True, in 1927 Ruth hit 60 home runs, more than any other TEAM in the American League. But Gehrig wasn’t far behind at 47, and in virtually every other category, Ruth’s numbers were not only better in 1921, they were far and away superior to the rest of the league. Second to Babe’s 59 homers in 1921 was a tie between Bob Meusel and Ken Williams with just 24. Babe’s 1921 season also included runaway crowns in On Base Percentage (.512 to .452 – Ty Cobb), Slugging Percentage (.846 to .606 – Harry Heilmann), Runs Scored (177 to 132 – Jack Tobin), Total Bases (457 to 365 – Heilmann), Runs Batted In (168 to 139 – Heilmann), and Bases on Balls (145 to 103 – Lu Blue). Ruth ranked #3 in the American League in Batting Average, #6 in Hits, #2 in Doubles, #4 in Triples, and even #8 in Stolen Bases. He even pitched in two games that season, winning both. And all before he had Lou Gehrig batting behind him in the lineup! His 1921 “Wins Over Replacement” of 12.6 also edges out his 1927 rating of 12.4, confirming that the 1921 season for “The Babe” was one of the greatest performances ever!
Known for his great passing ability in the latter stages of his career, Wilt Chamberlain’s early years were an all-out scoring assault on the NBA record book, obliterating career marks on an annual basis. His 1961-1962 statistics are ridiculous and read as a collection of virtually unmatchable accomplishments. Putting up over 50 points per game on an average of nearly 40 shots taken, Chamberlain bested second place scorer Walt Bellamy 50.4 to 31.6 and outrebounded Bill Russell 25.7 to 23.6 while playing virtually every minute of every game, including several double and triple overtime games. Chamberlain owns four of the top five point-scoring performances in NBA history, his 4,029 point ’61 season more than 400 points higher than the next best total, which was “The Big Dipper’s” 1962 season, and almost 1,000 points higher than the only other player in NBA history to eclipse the 3,000 point mark, Michael Jordan.
Just like “Wilt the Stilt” in basketball, “The Great One” tallied unprecedented statistics on a yearly basis. While Wayne Gretzky owns the top five performances in NHL history and any of them could be touted for the top spot, his 1983-1984 season stands as the most dominant. Though not his personal best statistically due to missing six games, Gretzky distanced himself for titles in Goals (87 to 56 – Michel Goulet), Assists (118 to 86 – Paul Coffey) and Total Points (205 to 126 – Coffey) while leading the league in even strength goals, power play goals, shorthanded goals, plus/minus, and shooting percentage … but he was only second in the NHL in shots taken. Gretzky averaged an unbelievable 2.77 points per game, a full point per game over teammate Jari Kurri, in second place at 1.77 points per game, while leading Edmonton to its first of four Stanley Cup Championships in a five year span.
Beginning with William Howard Taft throwing the ceremonial first pitch on Opening Day in 1910, America’s Commander In Chief and its national pastime have become an unshakable partnership. Eleven Presidents since Taft have marked the official opening of baseball season with varying results. In 1940, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a seasoned veteran at throwing the first pitch, provided a moment of comedy when his pitch sailed wildly off target and smashed the camera of Washington Post photographer Irving Schlossenberg. Ten years later, President Harry S. Truman wowed the stadium crowd by displaying his ambidextrous abilities and throwing two first pitches, one with each hand. In 1962, JFK threw the ceremonial pitch to open the new District of Columbia Stadium, renamed Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in 1969 after his brother’s assassination. With the exodus of the Washington Senators to Texas, President Richard Nixon traveled to his home state of California in 1973 to deliver the pitch at Anaheim Stadium, becoming the first President to open a new season outside the nation’s capital. In ’84, Ronald Reagan delivered a strike and then watched the game from the dugout, the first President ever to do so. And in 1993, President Clinton became the first to leave the security of the Secret Service and take the mound to throw his pitch.
Opening Day has had its share of historic moments. In 1901, the Detroit Tigers opened the season by rallying from a 13-4 deficit to defeat the Milwaukee Brewers 14-13. In 1923, Yankee Stadium opened its doors with a 4-1 victory over the Red Sox behind a third-inning Babe Ruth homer, starting the legend of “The House That Ruth Built.” In 1940, Bob Feller opened the new season by tossing a no-hitter against the White Sox; he would lead the league in wins, ERA, complete games and strikeouts that year. Of course there’s 1947, when Jackie Robinson trotted to first base at Ebbets field and broke baseball’s long-standing color barrier. And in 1974, Hank Aaron stepped to the plate in Cincinnati and delivered a first-inning round tripper, his 714th career dinger, tying him with Babe Ruth for career home runs.
While George Bell, Tuffy Rhodes, and Dmitri Young all share the title of smashing three home runs in the season opener, several notable ballplayers have a track record of excellence in the season’s premier contest. Ted Williams had a lifetime .449 batting average in fourteen opening contests with at least one hit in every game. Frank Robinson and Ken Griffey Jr. have hit eight Opening Day round-trippers with Willie Mays and Eddie Mathews right behind at seven. Jimmy Key holds a perfect 7-0 record on the mound in season openers with Greg Maddux at 6-0. But perhaps the best performer on Opening Day is the great Walter Johnson, who hurled nine shutouts in fourteen career starts.
From Tuesday March 25th through Thursday April 10th at 9PM EST, anyone who is registered with us can place a bid on any item, either through our website or by calling us at (303) 840-2784. If you are not registered to bid but choose to participate and would like to be registered, that can also be done 
Often misunderstood by collectors, the 15-minute rule simply states that if there are no bids placed for 15-minutes ON ANY ITEM IN THE AUCTION, the auction ends and the high bidders on each item at that time have won. To be perfectly clear, because this is usually where the misunderstanding arises, the auction for a specific item does not end if it hasn’t had a bid for 15 minutes. Bidding for that item, and all items, ends if no bid has been placed on any of the 1,791 lots for 15 minutes. People often call and ask, “I’m high bidder on a lot and no one else is bidding on it, why haven’t I been declared the winner?” The answer is because the lots don’t close one at a time; the whole auction closes at once.
However, Frazee had another option; the Chicago White Sox offered star outfielder Joe Jackson and $60,000 cash for Ruth’s services; rejected in favor of the larger cash deal. Had the White Sox offer been successful, Joe Jackson would have patrolled the outfield in Boston and Babe Ruth would have played in Chicago. Well, for a short while anyway. With rumors of a conspiracy to fix the 1919 World Series continuing through the 1920 season, a grand jury was convened to investigate. While cleared of all legal charges, Jackson’s reign in the Boston outfield would have abruptly ended when Commissioner Landis issued a lifetime ban of Jackson and the other alleged co-conspirators. Ruth would have found himself toiling in relative obscurity, leader of an organization gutted by scandal that would finish no higher than 5th in the American League for the remainder of Ruth’s career. Instead of being the saving grace to restore baseball’s integrity, he would wear the cap of the team that destroyed it. There would be no “house that Ruth built” and no New York Yankees dynasty. “The Babe” likely would have been just another name among the greats, and the sport of baseball would have followed a very different path.
In the first round of the 1965 NFL draft, #12 overall, the St. Louis Cardinals selected University of Alabama quarterback Joe Namath. On the same day, the AFL held their draft with the New York Jets selecting Namath #1 overall. With both teams making a pitch to secure his services, Namath shocked the football world by choosing the New York Jets, signing a contract for a record $437,000 and giving the American Football League its first true superstar. Namath’s magnetic personality and brash confidence were a perfect match for the New York stage and it wasn’t long before Namath was to Manhattan what Mickey Mantle was to the Bronx; a personality bigger than the game he represented. His flowing hair, his cocky attitude, and his aggressive style on the gridiron cast him in the role of antagonist to the NFL’s military crew-cut wearing Unitas. Namath became a symbol of the free-wheeling, offense first approach of the AFL, while Unitas was the face of the methodical, smash-mouth style of the NFL. As fate would have it, the two icons would meet in a showdown for a championship that would eventually unite the leagues and change the course of football forever!