Open for Bidding - Love of the Game's Summer, 2025 Auction

[Al C.risafulli]

Hi All:

Hope everyone is well, and looking forward to the National.

Just a quick note to let you all know that Love of the Game's Summer Premier Auction is now open for bidding. The auction closes August 9. Catalogs should mail to active bidders the week after the National.

I love this auction. It's chock full of tough type cards, gorgeous Old Judges, important photos and memorabilia. Some of my favorites:

The 1863 Union Prisoners at Salisbury, NC litho - quite literally a drawing of the birth of baseball in this country, as Civil War soldiers learned the game and brought it home after the war. This litho pictures Union prisoners playing baseball, and this particular example was gifted by the artist to his son, just two years before he died.

An amazing new discovery of a 1949 Aero Service Station Joe DiMaggio. The only known example of a newly-discovered issue and DiMaggio's rarest card.

The greatest selection of Caribbean cards we've ever offered, highlighted by a 1910 Punch Cigarros Gervasio Gonzalez (one of the only examples known with its cardboard backing), a 1923-24 Tomas Gutierrez Oscar Charleston SGC VG/EX 4, a 1923-24 Billiken Pop Lloyd SGC VG/EX 4, and a host of other Negro League Hall of Famers including Jose Mendez, Cristobal Torriente, Martin Dihigo, Ray Brown, and more.

A newly-discovered, nearly-complete set of 1910 Sweet Caporal Hockey Postcards (missing just one card), highlighted by a PSA 4 Georges Vezina.

And possibly the most interesting piece, a 1946 original photo of George Shuba and Jackie Robinson meeting at home plate for the "Handshake of the Century," when Shuba famously greeted Jackie at the plate with a handshake after Robinson homered in his first game in Montreal. This is the only known example of this photo, every example of this photo that you see online originates from this example.

There's also more than 100 gorgeous N172s with beautiful images, which is something that I know everybody likes.

There's all sorts of other treasures from front to back in this auction, I hope everybody finds something they like! We'll have a lot of this on display at the National, so please come by and visit!

If you're interested, you can take a look here: https://bid.loveofthegameauctions.com/Lots/Gallery

-Al