Auction Name: 2025 December 19 - 21 Winter Sports Catalog Auction

Lot Number: 81179

Shortcut to Lot: HA.com/50081*81179

Period-Signed 1952 Jackie Robinson #312 PSA Good 2 Auto 8 - From The Golden Age Collection. After the most profound heartbreak was delivered by Bobby Thomson's bat to bring a sudden and shocking end to the Brooklyn Dodgers' 1951 season, the Bums returned with a vengeance in 1952, leaving their hated National League rivals four and a half games in their wake by the time the regular season was done. It would prove to be Jackie's last campaign as the Dodgers' starting second baseman, and his final appearance in the top ten for National League MVP balloting, but he'd lead the Senior Circuit with a .440 on-base percentage and steal twenty-four bases in thirty-one attempts.

Let's remember that this is one of the rare "third series" cards of the 1952 Topps set--a next-door neighbor to Mantle's legendary #311--thus considerably more rare than the bulk of the issue. As the legend goes, most of the cards from this final series were produced too late to make it to market during the baseball season, relegated first to a dusty existence in warehouse storage before burial at sea.

This one not only survived but thrived, sharing a brief encounter with the man whose smiling face inhabits the obverse for the application of a bold blue ink signature from the iconic barrier-buster. The card itself demonstrates handling and storage wear typical of its contemporaries, although we have to applaud the strong centering that is far from a given in this early stage of Topps' development. It's one of just nine signed examples in the PSA population, and bested by just two of them. Graded PSA Good 2 Auto 8.

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