DALLAS, TX.- Heritage Auctions’ Sports category, fresh off a record-setting $200-million season, has never forgotten the thrill of cracking that first pack of wax; getting a hero to sign a ball, a jersey, a cap, a card; seeing a legend live for the first time, whether on the grassy field, on the parquet floor, in the squared circle. That exhilaration comes rushing back in Heritage’s February 22-23 Winter Platinum Night Sports Catalog Auction, which is replete with coveted cards of icons, historic jerseys and jackets worn by heroes at their most majestic moments, the rings and medals of champions — items enough to fill endless halls of fame and museums.

Perhaps we begin at the beginning — the rookie card of a man called Babe and one of the two finest examples in the world, no less. Or with the jerseys of New York Yankees greats who came after George Herman Ruth, Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris. Or a more modern phenomenon uncovered by Canadian collector Alex Housego, the lone gold Topps NOW card signed and inscribed by Shohei Ohtani after he entered the history books by hitting 50 homers and stealing 50 bases in a single season.

The history available in this auction runs deep and wide, spanning some of the most iconic and memorable moments in sports history, chief among them the USA track jacket worn by Olympic sprinter John Carlos when he and Tommie Smith raised their clenched fists toward the Mexico City sky in 1968. It has never been to auction. Here, too, is one of the medals presented to Jim Thorpe’s family in 1983, decades after the International Olympic Committee unfairly stripped Thorpe of medals in the pentathlon and decathlon at the Olympic Games Stockholm 1912.

Also making its auction debut is the striking assemblage of ring jackets, trunk and signed photographs offered by Kevin Von Erich, the beloved former wrestler whose collection tells the story of his brothers and father better than any big-screen fictionalization about the men behind The Iron Claw.

“It is always an honor and a privilege to work with these incredible pieces of American history — those uniforms worn by Hall of Fame greats during defining moments, those cards deemed the most beautiful and the rarest, those treasures from games and careers about which books have been written and movies have been made,” says Chris Ivy, Director of Sports Auctions at Heritage. “We do not take this lightly, recognizing how fortunate we are to work among these items and to have consignors like John Carlos, Kevin Von Erich and Alex Housego, who trust us to take their treasures and share them with the world.”

Collecting baseball cards has become a uniquely American pastime, as much as the game itself. The Hobby might have long ago evolved into The Industry. But it’s still called The Hobby, nonetheless. And in recent years, collectors have begun to realize the 1916 M101-4 Sporting News Babe Ruth Blank Back rookie card belongs in the same breath as the 1909-1911 T206 Honus Wagner, the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle and the 1986 Fleer Michael Jordan, among other classic slices of collectible cardboard.

Especially the one in this auction: one of the two blank-back rookie Ruths graded PSA Near Mint 7, with none higher on PSA’s relatively sparse population report.

Heritage Executive Vice President Joe Orlando once wrote that the 1916 Ruth rookie deserves its place “on any trading card version of Mount Rushmore.” Yet for decades, the Ruth rookie was seldom, if ever, discussed in the same breathless tones as baseball’s other grails. As Ivy says, “The 1916 Ruth isn’t the larger-than-life Babe we’re accustomed to, the round-faced slugger in Yankee pinstripes you see in the 1933 Goudey set.” In other words, he isn’t yet the Sultan of Swat. But as Orlando says, “It’s Babe Ruth, a name that speaks for itself” — on a card that’s as important as any other in The Hobby.

That historic offering is joined in this auction by numerous vintage must-haves, including a 1955 Topps Roberto Clemente rookie card graded PSA Mint 9 and Mickey Mantle’s 1951 Bowman rookie card graded SGC Mint 9, joined by a thoroughly modern chase card: the only 2024 Topps NOW card inscribed by Shohei Ohtani when the Los Angeles Dodgers’ international superstar became the first member of baseball’s 50-50 club.

Topps sold 653,737 copies of that card in September, a record print run in the 8-year history of the Topps NOW program. This is the only slice of gold signed and inscribed by Ohtani, and PSA graded it as Gem Mint 10.

Alex Housego, the card’s consignor, ordered two 20-pack bundles of the card when Topps made them available, on the off chance he might get one of the numbered parallels — or, sure, maybe an autographed offering. Instead, one of the bundles contained a card that promised, “You are due to receive a Topps NOW® Autograph Card Gold Parallel of Shohei Ohtani.” In December, Housego flew to Texas to pick up the card from Topps, which features Ohtani’s signature and his inscription “50/50 CLUB 9/19/24.” It was “better than I imagined,” Housego said.

He then went to PSA’s Santa Ana, California, headquarters, where the card returned a Perfect 10. Said Housego, “This is insane.” It’s hard to argue.

This event also features an insane amount of jerseys and jackets (and a cape) worn by legends during their most mythical moments, among them one of Roger Maris’ 1961 home uniforms from that mythic season in the sun — and, yes, his complete Yankees pinstripes, including pants and stirrups. The uniform has been photo-matched to multiple games during that historic spring and summer when he hit a then-major league record 61 homers — his final one on the last day of the regular season, no less! — and captured his second consecutive American League MVP Award.

Maris’ 1961 season has been well chronicled in film and print as he chased Ruth’s home-run record — and ran from the haters who hurled death threats in his direction. Even commissioner Ford Frick tried to rob Maris of his place in history, insisting that a player could only break Ruth’s home run record if he did it within 154 games, not the 162played that season. That’s why it took baseball 30 years to officially recognize Maris’ record, which was long accompanied by that pesky asterisk.

As The Miami Herald’s sports editor Jimmy Burns noted upon homer No. 61, Maris “had overcome the throat-clutching pressure of a season-long drive on the greatest record and the greatest legend in all baseball history. In his long, lonely ordeal he had pursued a mark that had come down through the years as a monument to the immortal Ruth’s greatness and a record which millions of baseball fans never expected to see topped.”

One of Maris’ jerseys from that season resides in Cooperstown. This one finds a new home at February’s end. And it’s joined by the 53rd home run ball from the 1961 season, a pair of Maris’ cleats worn during some of those historic trips around the base path and a facsimile of the 1960 American League Most Valuable Player Award awarded to actor Barry Pepper as Roger Maris in Billy Crystal’s acclaimed movie *61 about that season.

Maris’ uniform is joined by teammate (and 1961 home-run rival) Mickey Mantle’s Yankees pinstripes photo-matched to the 1957 season, when The Commerce Comet edged out Ted Williams to become a back-to-back American League MVP. That’s not all: Multiple photo-matching services discovered this jersey’s use throughout the 1957 season, beginning with April 13’s appearance on NBC’s Salute to Baseball that celebrated the previous season and Opening Day; May 25-26, when he hit home runs No. 181 and 182 against the Washington Senators; and June 18’s presentation of the 1956 American League Silver Bat Award.

Perhaps most importantly, the jersey has been photo-matched to a July 23, 1957, home game against the Chicago White Sox. On that day, the Society for American Baseball Research notes, “Switch-hitter Mickey Mantle banged out a single, double, triple, and home run, accomplishing the 12th cycle in New York Yankees history” — and the only one of his career. “His home run almost escaped Yankee Stadium and caused a tremendous roar by the crowd.”

There are countless jerseys and jackets in this auction deserving of displays, among them Stan Musial’s game-worn, signed St. Louis Cardinals jersey from his rookie season in 1942; Tom Brady’s game-worn and signed New England Patriots “Color Rush” jersey photo-matched to the Oct. 22, 2017, Thursday Night Football game against the Atlanta Falcons; and a Minneapolis Lakers warm-up uniform signed by George Mikan, who wore the outfit from 1948-51. And, surely, basketball fans will be thrilled by the auction debut of the jersey photo-matched to Pete Maravich’s first season as an LSU Tiger in 1967-68, when the man known as Pistol scored 1,138 points.

One of the most significant pieces in this auction is also one of its most unassuming: a standard-issue Wilson navy-blue zip-up track jacket bearing a red-and-white “USA” and two white pieces of fabric, upon which are printed the numbers “25” and “9” and, below them, the words “JUEGOS DE LA XIX OLIMPIADA MEXICO 68.” This is the jacket John Carlos wore when he claimed his bronze medal in 200 meters at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City — and raised his left fist toward the sky in protest.

You know the picture, whether you’ve seen it once or a thousand times: two Black American Olympians wearing Olympic medals and black gloves. As “The Star-Spangled Banner” began to play, gold medalist Tommie Smith raised his right arm straight as if to punch a hole in the sky; Carlos, his left, slightly curved. Their heads are bowed in the photograph; their eyes are closed, and their feet are bare, save for black socks meant to represent the impoverished.

To represent those lynched, Smith wore a scarf that Wednesday in Mexico; Carlos, a long beaded necklace. Carlos also wore one of his father’s military medals on his jacket, which he kept unzipped — a violation of United States Olympic Committee protocol — to reveal a black sweater covering his USA jersey. The International Center of Photography calls the photo of Carlos and Smith “one of the most iconic photographs capturing the struggles of the civil rights movement.”

Carlos hadn’t seen the jacket for more than 50 years, having given it to a Senegalese runner before he returned to the States. A nephew of its longtime caretaker recently returned it, and Carlos plans to donate most of its proceeds to the family that kept it in pristine condition.

“I was elated to see [the jacket] again,” Carlos says. “But it was hard for me to miss it because I see myself in the picture every day.”

Kevin Von Erich doesn’t much look at photos these days — of himself, the brothers who died too young or of the father who offered his sons careers in wrestling when other options failed to pan out.

For the first time, the Texas legend known as the barefooted, graceful Golden Warrior offers at auction an extraordinary collection of keepsakes from the circled square, including the original iconic gold robe reproduced for the acclaimed 2023 movie The Iron Claw, in which Zac Efron played Kevin. The auction also features two of his match-worn trunks (yes, even the gold pair) and several of Kevin’s ring jackets worn during his triumphant stint in World Class Championship Wrestling in the 1980s. There’s even the jacket shared by Kevin and brothers Mike and David, the only one worn by all three Von Erichs.

Here, too, are numerous photos signed by Kevin, Kerry and their brothers and father Fritz, as well as the last known photo taken of David before the cowboy known as The Yellow Rose of Texas died of an intestinal infection in Japan on Feb. 10. 1984. Kevin also offers every WWE Hall of Fame plaque given to all the Von Erichs, father and sons, in 2009.

“There are people that would appreciate these things more than I do,” Kevin says. “I want other people to have it, the people that would want it. I’m glad to know there are people out there that would want it to tell the truth because a lot of it’s just pictures and jackets — but a lot of work went into it.”

The Winter Platinum Night Sports Catalog Auction has shaped up as the wrestling match of the year, as it also features 18 of the most colorful and outrageous outfits worn by “Macho Man” Randy Savage — “one of the all-time greats,” as John Cena noted upon Randy Mario Poffo’s death in May 2011. And — oooh, yeah — some of them are even signed by Macho Man, including the shirt designed by Michael Braun for the July 30, 1988, taping of WWF Superstars, during which Savage and Hulk Hogan shook hands to become the Mega Powers. Snap into a Slim Jim (complete with the sunglasses), tighten the bandana and prepare to be dazzled by the pomp and circumstance of Macho Man’s collection.

No less glitzy or glamorous are the nearly two dozen Super Bowl rings in this auction, just in time for kickoff. Several, including running back LeGarrette Blount’s 2014 New England Patriots Super Bowl XLIX ring, are those massive modern marvels big enough to suit up on the defensive line. But here, too, is the simple ring of a world champion that’s no less stunning: Green Bay Packers backup quarterback Zeke Bratkowski’s Super Bowl I championship ring, among collectors’ most coveted pieces of golden hardware nearly 60 years later.