Tiger Woods 1st Sports Illustrated cover from 1996 is a very collectible item. This copy of Golf World from 1994 came out 2 years before that when Tiger was only 19. I’m working on this autographed copy for a fellow collector.

The corner crunch cleaned up with a couple small, permanent creases left behind. The current top pop is 9.8, and this one won’t beat that. But this will be the only autographed copy in the pop report. My grade projection is 8.0.

One of the most memorable Sports Illustrated covers of the 90’s dropped today in 1992. Former Green Bay Packers offensive lineman Tony Mandarich with the headline “The NFL’s Incredible Bust”.

Tony Mandarich was referred to as "the best offensive line prospect ever" during his college football career with the Michigan State. He was selected #2 overall in the 1989 NFL Draft. He weighed 330, ran a the 40 in 4.6 and had a 30” vertical. In 2008 he admitted to using steroids in college and it’s assumed the NFL’s rigorous testing policy meant he was off of them as a pro, contributing to his decline in performance.

He was drafted ahead of future NFL stars such as Barry Sanders, Derrick Thomas, Deion Sanders, Steve Atwater, Eric Metcalf, and Andre Rison. He is the only top 5 pick from the 1989 NFL Draft that is not in the Hall of Fame.

This autographed copy at CGC 4.0 is available on eBay for $100.

Today in 1923 Lou Gehrig hits his very first MLB home run. He would finish his career just shy of 500 with 493.

We all know about his Iron Man streak, 6 World Series titles, his battle with ALS and “the luckiest man on the face of the earth” speech. Something I didn’t know until today was that he was the first player in MLB history to have his number retired by his team.

Gehrig’s #4 was retired by the Yankees in 1939. Since then over 150 players across the league have had their number retired including 23 by the Yankees alone. The most recent for the Yankees is CC Sabathia who’s #52 was retired just two days ago.

This is Gehrig’s 1st Time magazine cover appearance from 1936 graded at CGC 6.0. This copy is a pop 7 with only 6 copies graded higher.

This copy of Sports Illustrated landed on newsstands today in 1960. It’s the very first cover appearance for Jim Brown.

Brown is widely considered one of the greatest running backs of all time, as well as one of the greatest players in NFL history, despite only playing for 9 seasons.

Brown won an NFL championship with the Browns in 1964. He led the league in rushing yards in eight out of his nine seasons, and by the time he retired, he held most major rushing records.

This copy graded in newsstand at CGC 8.0 is a pop 4 with only 1 copy graded higher.

With all of the cleaning and pressing I do for my customers, I’m so fortunate to get to see some amazing pieces in person. This is an all-time banger! Baseball magazine from 1951 featuring the first solo appearance of Mickey Mantle on any magazine cover. Oh yeah, it’s also autographed!

While this piece is over 70 years old, its condition was shockingly strong. The ripples at the bottom came out after 3 runs through the press. My grade estimate on this is 8.0 but that auto is definitely a 10! The red on this magazine is gonna pop in a PSA slab.

I can’t even imagine what this would bring at auction today.