August 6, 2020: Summer Auction
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/6/2020
Offered is a spectacular example of the important second issue of Sports Illustrated magazine, the iconic publication that heralded the beginning of one of the most popular sports magazines in the country. The 8 ¼-by-11-inch magazine is housed in a CGC 7.5 holder, with the August 23, 1954 Issue No. 2 including a subscriber postal label on the front. Like the inaugural issue that featured a 27-card full-color center foldout of reprinted 1954 Topps Baseball cards, Issue No. 2 reproduced another 15 cards in color from that coveted issue, all New York Yankees, then added another dozen “cards that never were,” in this instance black-and-white versions of 12 Yankees who didn't make the cut for the 1954 Topps issue. Sounds odd to refer to the likes of Mickey Mantle, Gil McDougald, Allie Reynolds, Jerry Coleman, Bob Cerv and Enos Slaughter as “missing the cut,” but the Topps Co. wrangled with rival Bowman for the first half of the decade of the 1950s over exclusive contracts with players, often leaving a number of players off the checklists for both issues.
Sports Illustrated Issue No. 2 (Aug. 23, 1954) Graded CGC 7.5
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