Frontrunner Sports Memorabilia

Today is Satchel Paige's 120th birthday. July 7, 1906.

Most baseball historians will tell you he was one of the five best pitchers who ever lived. He spent the prime years of his career — his 20s and 30s — in the Negro Leagues and barnstorming circuits, barred from the majors by the color line. By the time Jackie Robinson broke through and the door opened for Paige, he was 42 years old.

He made the Cleveland Indians roster in 1948 and promptly helped them win the World Series that year. Paige went 6-1 with a 2.48 ERA. At forty-two.

In 1965, at age 59, he pitched three scoreless innings for the Kansas City Athletics against the Boston Red Sox. His last batter faced in a major league game was Carl Yastrzemski.

He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971.

This JSA-authenticated signed photo shows Paige in an Atlanta Braves coach's uniform — late in his life, still connected to the game that took so long to let him in. The Braves kept him on staff in 1968 in part to help him qualify for his MLB pension. Small restitution for a career that deserved a lot more.

We also have an original news wire photo from his Cleveland Indians days — a black and white press photo with the Global News Photo stamp on the back. That one isn't for sale; it's part of the personal collection. But we're posting it today because the contrast between that young Paige in a Cleveland uniform and the elder statesman in the Braves photo is the whole story in two images.

The signed JSA photo is available now at the link below.

www.frontrunnersportsmemorabilia.com

Let’s gooooooooooal!! ⚽️🇺🇸

USMNT's Balogun has red card suspended; Trump asked FIFA to review FIFA has suspended the red card U.S. striker Folarin Balogun received in the team's match against Bosnia-Herzegovina, making him available to face Belgium in the round of 16 at the World Cup.

Happy Fourth of July from Frontrunner Sports Memorabilia.

What else says July 4th besides Yankees baseball? In fact, on this day 43 years ago, Dave Righetti threw a no-hitter against the Boston Red Sox. Final out: Wade Boggs, struck out looking. Pictured is a stub from that game that I had him sign and inscribe.

It's joined by two others that don't come up for sale often.

April 29, 1933 — New York Yankees vs Washington Senators
During Lou Gehrig's consecutive games streak. Babe Ruth got a hit. Gehrig got two. Hall of Fame catcher Bill Dickey got two. Three of the most legendary Yankees in history in the same box score, on the same afternoon, 93 years ago. The Senators went to the World Series that October. This wasn't a throwaway game against a weak opponent. This ticket stub is older than most people's grandparents.

May 14, 1996 — Dwight Gooden No-Hitter vs Seattle Mariners
Doc Gooden, years removed from his dominant Mets peak, finding one last transcendent night in pinstripes. A comeback story as much as a baseball story.

Three Yankees ticket stubs. Three unforgettable moments. All available now.

DM us or comment below for pricing. Happy to answer any questions on any of the three.

José Canseco turned 62 today.

Quick personal collection note first: I have in my collection a ticket stub from the May 26, 1993 game where a Carlos Martinez fly ball bounced off Canseco's head and over the fence for a home run.

Here's what's actually for sale:
1986 Topps Traded rookie. PSA 9 on the card. Perfect 10 on the autograph. And an inscription you almost never see on any player's signed card: "MLB Debut 8-2-85."

Canseco wrote his own major league debut date — August 2, 1985 — in his own hand, on his own rookie card. Think about what that is. It's not just authentication. It's annotation. A first-hand historical record, written by the subject himself, marking the exact moment he entered the big leagues. The number of cards like this in existence — from any player, on any rookie card — is genuinely tiny.

The 1986 Donruss The Rookies signed card rounds out the pair. Two rookie cards of the first 40-40 player in MLB history and the 1988 AL MVP.

Both available now. Link in comments.

Mike Tyson turned 60 today. Born June 30, 1966.

Most people when they hear "Holyfield vs Tyson" immediately think about the ear. The Bite Fight. June 1997. But the first fight — November 9, 1996 — was the real moment.

Holyfield walked in as a significant underdog. The consensus was that Tyson would overwhelm him early. What happened instead was a methodical, dominant performance by Holyfield that had Tyson looking lost by the middle rounds. Referee Mitch Halpern stopped it in round eleven. Unreal!

It was one of the biggest upsets in boxing history, and it barely gets talked about because the rematch gave the world something so much more bizarre to fixate on.

We have the Sports Illustrated cover from that night — dated November 18, 1996 — signed by Holyfield. Raw signature, heading to authentication shortly. Tyson's 60th birthday felt like the right moment to bring it out, especially since we have nothing left of Iron Mike’s

DM us if you're interested before it goes to PSA.

Today would have been Harmon Killebrew's 90th birthday. Born June 29, 1936, in Payette, Idaho.

If you grew up in the '50s and '60s and followed baseball seriously, you knew exactly who Killebrew was. If you didn't live in Washington or Minnesota, there's a decent chance he flew under your radar — even though he had no business being underrated.

573 career home runs. 1969 AL MVP. 13 All-Star appearances. Hall of Fame, 1984. He led the American League in home runs six times and hit 40 or more home runs in eight different seasons.

The reason most casual fans don't mention him in the same breath as Mays, Mantle, or Snider is simple: he didn't play in New York. It’s that simple. No national spotlight, no tabloid back pages, no daily column inches in the papers that set the narrative for a generation. He just showed up in Minnesota and hit the ball farther than almost anyone who ever lived.

This 1958 Topps card — #288, Washington Senators, PSA/DNA certified authentic — is one of my favorite Killebrew pieces in my personal collection. He's 21 years old on this card, still three years away from becoming a full-time starter. You can already see it though.

Happy 90th, Killer.

Just landed one of the better vintage Sports Illustrated lots I've come across.

Plenty of signed covers spanning 1954 to 1979 — highlighted by the following:

The 1957 Gordie Howe and Ted Lindsay cover has both players signed, and both added their Hall of Fame induction year as an inscription. HOF '66 for Lindsay. HOF '72 for Howe. That's not just a signed magazine — that's a piece of hockey history annotated by the men who made it.

The 1978 Dallas Cowboys cover — "YIPPEEE! White and Martin Whoop It Up" — has both Harvey Martin and Randy White signed. Harvey added "Co-MVP SB XII" to his signature. Those two were named Co-MVPs of Super Bowl XII together. That's a rare distinction, and it's on the cover that captured the moment. Martin was the first Super Bowl MVP to pass away (d. 2001) which makes this completed cover much more desirable

The 1959 Johnny Unitas is a painted illustration cover — from the era before Sports Illustrated went all-photography. Signed clean across the center. One of the most visually striking pieces I've owned.

And the 1979 Franco Harris Super Bowl XIII cover rounds it out. Bold signature right across number 32.

Plenty of these and others are heading to PSA for authentication. If you're interested in any of them before they're submitted, DM me or comment below and maybe we can strike a deal. Either way, they won’t last long.

Link in bio.

Father's Day story, and it involves tequila.

My wife stopped into Spec's liquor this week and spotted a Casamigos promotion — buy the FIFA World Cup 2026 gift set (bottle + cocktail shaker) and get a free engraving on the shaker.

She put Frontrunner on it.

I opened it this morning and I'll be honest — I was thrilled. My brand name, engraved on a shaker, on a FIFA World Cup official product, on Father's Day. Love it!!

To every dad out there who's also a collector, a reseller, a hunter of deals, a reader of pop reports, a person who has ever dreamed of punting Corporate America to the curb — Happy Father's Day. Keep building.

From all of us at Frontrunner Sports Memorabilia. 🥂

Don’t wait for the swim lanes to open back up again. Browse our PSA-graded inventory - already authenticated, encapsulated, and ready to ship.

Link in bio.