A 1939 sheet signed by numerous recipients of the American League's most valuable player award could reach $40,000 at Heritage Auctions.
The lot originates from the Thomas Jacob Archive.
It features autographs from 10 of baseball's greatest names, including Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb and Lou Gehrig.
The lot includes rare post-retirement signatures from Lou Gehrig
Jacob was just a young boy when he compiled this sheet. He sent it to each of the players to have won the American League's Most Valuable Player award.
Of these, Lou Gehrig’s autograph is the most intriguing.
It dates to after his emotionally charged farewell speech at Yankee Stadium in 1939, following his diagnosis with ALS.
Gehrig also includes a note correcting Jacob, after he was only given two MVP slots to fill in: "Dear Tom, I don't know where you got your data but I have trophies in my home to prove I was chosen in '27, '31, '34, '36- Best Wishes, Lou Gehrig. Check with Sporting News."
A similar sheet compiled by Jacob and signed by entrants in the Baseball Hall of Fame carries an identical estimate of $40,000.
Heritage comments: “Very few autographs signed by the Iron Horse [Gehrig] after his heartbreaking farewell exist in the collecting community, but those rare and important signatures represent just a small portion of the intrigue that this special archive contains.
“From MVP's to executives, from team sheets to inaugural class Hall of Fame rosters, this remarkable labor of love brings the 1939 Centennial baseball season to life unlike any collection we've encountered.
“It's unquestionably one of the most important autograph archives to surface in the hobby.”
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