(SPORTS BASEBALL) Issues of the New York Times from Jackie

Sale 2663 - Lot 433

Price Realized: $ 812

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500

(SPORTS--BASEBALL.) Issues of the New York Times from Jackie Robinson's first four games in the National League. 52; 44; 32; 64, 26, 14, 10, 8. 80, 24 pages, 22½ x 16¼ inches, individually stitched; minimal wear. New York, 16, 18, 19, and 20 April 1947

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The 16 April issue reports on Robinson's historic first game with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Four paragraphs are devoted to "The Robinson Debut," accompanied by a photograph of him taking a throw at first base: "The muscular Negro minds his own business and shrewdly makes no effort to push himself. He speaks quietly and intelligently when spoken to, and already has made a strong impression. 'I was nervous in the first play of my first game at Ebbets Field,' he said with his ready grin, 'but nothing has bothered me since.'" An anonymous veteran teammate is quoted: "Having Jackie on the team is still a little strange, just like anything that's new. We just don't know how to act with him. But he'll be accepted in time. . . . I'm for him, if he can win games" (page 32).

The next day's game was rained out, but the 18 April issue documents another milestone: "Jackie Robinson made his first major-league hit in the fifth, dropping a perfect bunt down the third base line" (page 28). The next day's paper documents Robinson's first home run with the Dodgers (at the Polo Grounds in upper Manhattan), features a photograph of him meeting the team's new manager, and includes this blurb: "Robinson had his legion of followers both inside and outside the park. Out on Eighth Avenue vendors were doing a lively business selling 'I'm For Jackie' buttons" (page 18). The 20 April Sunday edition (a thick doorstop just as you hope for with the Sunday Times) includes a photograph of Robinson racing towards first base, beating out a throw for a single in his fourth Dodgers game (page S-3).