A highly rare 1952 Willie Mays baseball card could be set to fetch more than $375,000, as part of Goldin Auctions Great American Trading Card Auction.
Willie Mays is regarded by many experts to be the greatest all-around baseball player of all time.
Throughout his 22-season career he hit 660 home runs, the fifth-highest total in MLB history; won a record-tying 12 Gold Glove awards; was twice voted the National League MVP; and made the All-Star team a record 24 times.
Mays also won the World Series in 1954 with the New York Giants, during which he made perhaps the most famous catch in baseball history, and was voted into the Hall of Fame in 1979, his first year of eligibility.
The card on offer was part of the 1952 Topps series, the most significant post-war trading card set ever produced. Also featured in the landmark series was the Mickey Mantle rookie card, now seen as perhaps the most iconic card in the collecting hobby.
Although the Mantle rookie is considered the most sought-after card in the series, with high-grade examples having fetched more than $1 million, the 1952 Topps Willie Mays card is actually far rarer.
Described as "simply one of the finest 1952 Topps Willie Mays cards that has ever been offered", the The PSA Mint 9 card is expected to fetch more than $375,000.
The current record for a 1952 Topps Willie Mays card was set back in May 2016, when another example graded PSA Mint 9 sold at Heritage Auctions for a stunning $478,000.
The second Mays card offered at Goldin is the 1951 Bowman #305 Willie Mays Rookie Card from his debut season with the New York Giants.
Although he started his rookie season with 12 consecutive no hitters, Mays was later instrumental in helping the Giants win the pennant, and powered them to their first World Series since 1937.
Graded PSA NM-MT 8, this card – which marked the beginning of one of the greatest careers in U.S sports history – is expected to sell for $60,000+.
Further highlights from the Goldin sale include a 1916 M101-5 Blank Back #151 Babe Ruth Rookie card from his first season as a pitcher with the Boston Red Sox, estimated at $300,000+; a 1954 Topps #94 Ernie Banks Rookie card, valued at $80,000+; a remarkably rare, unopened 1986/87 Fleer Basketball Wax box estimated at $60,000+; and a 1984-85 Star #101 Michael Jordan Signed Rookie card graded BGS MINT 9, priced at $75,000+.
The runs online until April 1.
