DALLAS, TX.- Moments after Heritage’s January 26-27 Winter Sports Card Catalog Auction opened for bidding, icons of The Hobby began crowding the playing field, led by the lone highest-graded blank-back 1916 M101-5 Babe Ruth rookie, a PSA Gem Mint 10 Michael Jordan rookie made by Fleer in 1986 and an uncut sheet of ’86 Fleer featuring all 132 cards from that beloved set. In early December, Sports Collectors Daily also offered a lengthy look at the “stunning” and historic find of sealed wax available in this auction, including a 1970 Topps baseball cello box with 24 unopened packs and a 1968 Topps football cello box with 36 (!) unopened packs.

But Heritage’s first major sports event of 2024 is defined as much by its special collections as its singular highlights.

Scattered throughout this expansive auction — which consists of more than 2,800 offerings! — are several remarkable assemblages, each with a backstory to rival what’s on the front of each card. Some have nicknames: “The Beautiful Monster,” consisting of 520 T-206s that are as beautiful as they are historic. And some have famous names, among them The Rupp Collection, named for the son of the legendary Kentucky basketball coach. Here, too, are 23 gems from The Mike Greenbaum Collection, named for the kid autograph hunter who had some of The Greatest Game’s greatest players sign some of their greatest cards in the 1950s.

“At Heritage, tomorrow always offers an opportunity to collect something extraordinary from yesterday, and that’s never truer than in this year’s Winter Sports Card Catalog Auction,” says Chris Ivy, Director of Sports Auctions. “Any one of these collections is a centerpiece offering. But to see them all together is almost overwhelming, and we’re thrilled to kick off 2024 with such a historic event that pays tribute to the hobby that looks stronger than ever heading into the future.”

“The Beautiful Monster” makes up a significant piece of this auction — and rightly so, as the American Tobacco Company’s 1909-11 T206 baseball card series essentially invented the hobby and continues to captivate collectors for whom such a small piece of cardboard looms large. And these offerings are particularly enthralling, as the collector responsible held on to those historic cards he considered particularly attractive. They are colored just so and centered just right. They are appealing not just to the eye but to the soul.

The consignor bought a nearly complete set of graded T206s about a decade ago, its cards graded very good to near-mint. He kept only those cards he considered, well, beautiful. That same year, at a card show in Chicago, he met a dealer offering a large inventory of mid- to high-grade T206s — and, again, bought only those that met his high standard. That journey continued until he’d assembled a T206 set of unrivaled visual quality.

For a peek at the pleasures “The Beautiful Monster” offers, look no further than this 1909-11 T206 Piedmont 150 Ty Cobb graded PSA EX-MT 6, which has but three higher-graded competitors. This is one of those grail cards of which collectors often speak in hushed tones — this one, especially, as its portrait, still a rich, verdant green, looks like it was printed yesterday. The red portrait of The Georgia Peach is iconic and available in this event with a Piedmont 350-460/25 graded an extraordinary PSA NM 7. The green portrait is perhaps even more renowned, craved by collectors who recognize its rarity.

The hits keep on coming, too, with Cobb — here’s the Piedmont 150, featuring the bat on his shoulder, in an impossibly high PSA NM 7 — and hundreds more, chief among their extraordinary ranks this 1909-11 T206 Uzit Rube Marquard. This card is so rare PSA has graded only two examples. And this one, a NM 7, is by far the highest.

As you’ve perhaps guessed, the Rupp Collection refers to Adolph Rupp — but not the Kentucky basketball coach and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer. This Rupp would be his son Adolph F. “Herky” Rupp Jr., who collected cards like his dad collected collegiate wins. In time, his treasure trove spanned the history of The Hobby. He was a completist with an eye for quality.

One offering from his collection immediately attracted bidders’ attention when the auction opened: this authenticated and sealed box of 1965 Topps Baseball cards with 24 unopened packs, inside of which there may well be Mickey Mantle, Sandy Koufax, Roberto Clemente, Pete Rose, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Bob Gibson … you get the idea. The box alone is beautiful; the possibilities within make it a treasure chest full of possibilities. The same goes for the 1966 Topps Baseball wax box with 14 unopened packs.

Rupp counted among his treasures one of the highest-graded examples of Willie Mays’ 1953 Topps card, one of the rare 11 slabbed with a PSA NM-MT 8. And from the vaunted 1952 Topps series comes this PSA NM 7 Jackie Robinson. a historical two-for-one.

Robinson also leads off The Mike Greenbaum Collection, so named for a 15-year-old who, decades ago, “attacked autograph hunting with professionalism way beyond his years,” according to an old friend. Greenbaum grew up near Yankee Stadium when Mickey Mantle was still dressing in pinstripes every summer, when Mays and Robinson were New York superstars and out-of-town visitors were guys like Ted Williams and Warren Spahn. During the early 1950s, Greenbaum got every one of those guys — and plenty more — to sign their baseball cards. Because, as Greenbaum’s friend Bill Berkowitz wrote a few years back, “We were single-minded in our pursuit of autographs.”

This is sure to rank high among the most coveted in his collection: a 1949 Bowman Jackie Robinson, one of just eight autographed specimens in the entirety of the PSA population. The card is already iconic. The signature makes it a sure-fire must-have. The same goes for the 1953 Bowman signed by Mickey Mantle during his early playing days, a true rarity among Mantle cards, as he autographed most of his cards long after his playing days were behind him.