DALLAS, TX.- "No man in the history of baseball had as much power as Mickey Mantle," Billy Martin famously said of his best friend and New York Yankees teammate. "No man."

The Mick proved that yet again over the weekend at Heritage Auctions, where his Yankees home jersey worn throughout the 1958 season sold for $4.68 million to become — by far — the most valuable Mantle jersey ever sold at auction. This photo-matched pinstriped gamer saw significant action in '58, when The Commerce Comet was coming off back-to-back MVP seasons and spent time starring on television's Home Run Derby.

On Saturday night, during Heritage's $34-million Summer Platinum Night Sports Auction, it more than doubled the previous record for a Mantle gamer set at Heritage in February 2022, when the jersey Mantle wore in his final game as Yankee on Sept. 28, 1968, sold for $2,190,000.

Not far behind that record-shattering jersey was a 1952 Topps Mantle graded Mint 9 by Sportscard Guaranty Corporation, which sold this weekend for $4.5 million — the most a sports card has sold for in 2023 and the fourth-highest price ever paid at auction for a sports card. This 1952 Mantle, like its higher-graded $12.6 million counterpart sold at Heritage last summer, hails from the Topps Chewing Gum cardboard box that had been stashed in an attic for more than three decades until it landed in the hands of Alan "Mr. Mint" Rosen.

"There is no shortage of headlines from this year's Summer Platinum Night Sports Auction, from the popularity of signed vintage cards to the overwhelming demand for uniforms worn when history was made," says Chris Ivy, Heritage's Director of Sports Auctions. "Certainly, the Mantles demand worthy attention; for us, it's always a thrill to be a part of history, too. But no one should ignore the intensely tenacious bidding throughout the weekend and the extraordinary prices realized as a result."

The Aug. 19-20 Summer Platinum Night Sports Auction realized $33,917,399, with more than 2,500 bidders worldwide participating. Those two Mantle items alone realized $9.18 million in an auction filled with record-breakers, including the Sports Illustrated that knocked Playboy from its perch as the world's most valuable magazine ever sold at auction.

Chief among the record-setting lots was one of the few known 1948 Leaf Jackie Robinson rookie cards signed by the man who broke baseball's color barrier, which realized $588,000 during one of the auction's numerous bidding wars, establishing it as the world's most expensive vintage signed sports card ever sold at auction. The card is a work of art, the first post-war cardboard printed in color. Robinson added his autograph in bold, beautiful blue ink — the artist signing his masterwork.

This auction likewise features a complete run of playing-days Mantle cards signed by The Mick, with the '52 Topps leading the lots at $264,000. The card grades only to a PSA Poor 1, yet that signature, the stout cursive of the Commerce Comet, rates a PSA/DNA Auto 10 to demand that price. Another moonshot came with the $198,000 realized for the only known 1952 Berk Ross Mantle signed by the man on the front. This card sparked another late-night bidding war, with the dust settling on that record price early Monday morning.




Also exceeding its pre-auction estimate was the ticket stub from Robinson's Brooklyn Dodgers' April 15, 1947, debut. There exist but a handful, and the one sold Saturday night, graded PSA Very Good 3, is the best known among the scant lot. Hence, its $300,000 sale price, which exceeded pre-auction estimates like so many of the nearly 1,300 lots offered this weekend. That includes the best known (and only known!) 1950-51 Minneapolis Lakers season ticket in a PSA Good 2 from the Lakers' third season in the NBA. The two-time defending champs' season ticket realized an extraordinary $93,000, shattering all expectations.

Among the two-day auctions' million-dollar-sellers was a 1933 Goudey Babe Ruth graded SGC Near Mint-Mint+ 8.5, which sold for $1,065,000. Sports Collectors Daily noted over the weekend that's "a record for one of the four Ruth cards in Goudey's first major baseball card set." It wasn't the lone Ruth to call its shot over the weekend.

A 1916 M101-4 The Sporting News Babe Ruth rookie card, graded PSA Very Good+ 3.5, realized $528,000 — almost $100,000 higher than Heritage's previous sale of the card in this grade. And an exceptionally rare 1921 Frederick Foto in a PSA Very Good+ 3.5 realized $234,000.

Modern offerings also dazzled in this auction: A 2004 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection Michael Jordan, numbered 6/6 and graded BGS Near Mint-Mint 8 with its autograph achieving a perfect 10, shattered its pre-auction estimate to realize $324,000. In fact, the consigned group of 10 Upper Deck Titleist Collection cards shot past its pre-auction estimate. Among their estimable ranks: the LeBron James (numbered 1/3 and graded BGS NM-MT 8, Auto 10), which realized $150,000; and the one-of-three Julius Erving (BGS NM-MT 8, Auto 10), which sold for $37,200.

Jordan pulled on this Chicago Bulls top just before dropping 27 points in Chicago's 103-89 win against the Charlotte Hornets in Game 3 of the 1998 NBA Eastern Conference Semifinals. This photo-matched "Last Dance"-r with impeccable provenance realized $645,000. Among the event's more active participants were the Air Jordan XIII sneakers Michael Jordan wore during that Last Dance in the '98 playoffs. These signed Air Jordans went into extended bidding at 10 p.m. CST at $50,000; more than four hours later, in the wee small hours of Sunday morning, they had realized $204,000.

MJ also toppled Marilyn Monroe in this auction: The highest-graded copy of the Dec. 10, 1984, newsstand edition of Sports Illustrated realized $126,000 early Monday morning after heated overnight bidding. The CGC 9.8 edition, featuring Jordan alongside the headline "A Star is Born," is now the most valuable graded magazine in the world, a title held for just five months by this issue of Playboy No. 1, sold at Heritage for $120,000 earlier this year.

Numerous centerpiece jerseys were in this auction's starting line-up, including Tom Brady's New England Patriots throwback photo-matched to the Oct. 9, 2011, brawl with the New York Jets. It sold Saturday night for $360,000.

But perhaps more impressively, a 1989-90 Magic Johnson game-worn Los Angeles Lakers Jersey realized $312,000. It entered the auction with a $35,000+ estimate. Yet in recent weeks, the jersey was photo-matched to two images, which raised its estimate to $75,000+. But this jersey was set for winning time no matter the estimate, as it, too, saw a heated tussle between bidders.

Another smash hit from Southern California came from Shohei Ohtani's bat used to clobber his first career grand slam on May 10, 2022, when his Los Angeles Angels walloped the Tampa Bay Rays 11-3. This black ASICS bat, signed and dated by the modern-day Babe Ruth, realized $168,000.

Not every record-setter was a six-figure item, though. Look no further than the sweatband that sold this weekend for $28,800, the highest amount ever paid for such a small piece of fabric. Its backstory, though, is giant: This is the red band worn by Michael Jordan in the legendary "Flu Game" during the 1997 Finals, saved by a Utah Jazz ball boy so that one day it could set a world record in the same auction as one of Mickey Mantle's pinstriped jerseys.