Trinket or Treasure: Sports Illustrated cover could be worth hundreds

Recently I was meeting with Tompkins Weekly publisher, Todd Mallinson, he also serves as general manager for ESPN Ithaca radio. He showed me a framed copy of the first issue of Sports Illustrated hanging on his office wall and told me that his father had given it to him about 20 years ago.  He suggested that sports memorabilia would make a good topic for one of these articles.

I thought of a couple other sports related items that have a story to tell so I decided to give them “Roadshow” style evaluations for this month’s column.

Let’s start with the magazine. Now a household name, Sports Illustrated first hit newsstands in 1954 to little fanfare.  Most in publishing didn’t believe a weekly magazine dedicated to covering sports could find an audience, but it would go on play a large role in the popularization of spectator sports that took off in the second half of the 20th century.

Nearly 80 years later, that first issue, with Milwaukee Braves star Eddie Mathews at bat and New York Giants catcher Wes Westrum behind the plate on the cover, still has a remarkable number of surviving copies.

Wider availability can bring down price, but this issue originally included 27 Topps baseball cards featuring legendary players like Ted Williams, Willie Mays and Jackie Robinson and they are much harder to find. The cards were bound into the magazine on uncut sheets and most were removed by young fans, cut into individual cards and lost to the bicycle spokes of time.

Todd’s copy has the cards intact, which is good, it does, however looks pretty well read and has a few minor condition issues.   Overall, it’s in good shape for its age.  All told, I would give it a replacement value of $300-500 as is.  Professionally graded copies with a condition rating of 9.8 out of 10 sell for around $10,000.

The next item is a game-used Chicago Cubs batting helmet that comes from my old friend Bob Neaus. Bob is a very talented graphic designer, and he worked for Rawlings in St. Louis.

During the season Rawlings would receive shipments of various team’s helmets to check for stresses they had gone through during the season. One day a pallet of Chicago Cubs helmets showed up,  when they finished the tests Bob was given the one used by catcher Michael Barrett.

Barrett was a journeyman player who had some early success in the late 90’s with the Montreal Expos, but by this time in 2007 he was ending his time with the Cubs before going on to play for several other teams.  Game worn helmets are a popular collectible and can command very high prices but there are a number of factors that go into determining that, including the stature of the player, what games it was used in, etc.

He had a career of highs and lows but was never considered an elite player. Although we know the helmet was used in the 2007 season, Barrett wasn’t a part of any notable games in that year.

I would put a replacement value of $150-200 on this item.

Lastly, I have a piece of great personal value that was given to me by Hockey Hall of Famer Gilbert Perrault of the Buffalo Sabres.  Perrault was a large part of the forward line known as The French Connection.

My big sister Denise has always been a Sabres fan and one Halloween she had the idea to try trick or treating at some of the players’ houses. She was a great artist, very creative and she helped me make some of what I now realize were the coolest, homemade costumes you could imagine.

This particular year I was a robot made from cardboard, tin foil, an Army surplus gas mask and a clear plastic dome lamp shade . In the late 70’s, players lived in relatively modest houses in normal suburban neighborhoods.  Denise found several of their addresses in the phone book.

Perrault was our last stop, and after nervously ringing the bell, there he was, number 11 himself.

He said that my costume was great and I got so excited that I fogged up the gas mask so I couldn’t see anything. He tossed a full sized Nestle $100,000 into the pillow case with the rest of my sugar bonanza.  I still have the wrapper after all these years.

It’s one of my most treasured items. It isn’t worth a dime to anyone else but its replacement value is priceless.

Steven Daly is an qualified, independent, personal property appraiser.  He can be reached at steven@ithacavintage.com. Visit www.Ithacavintage.com for more information.