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A Couple of Early Jackie Robinson Magazines to Look For

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One of the things I’ve always loved best about collecting old magazines is that outstanding content is often found under the front cover. This presents some bargains if you know what you’re looking for. This quick post focuses on a couple of early articles about Jackie Robinson that are hidden under the cover. The first example shows how you can score a bargain if you know what you’re looking for, while the second example is a rare case where what you’re hunting just might have value for completely unrelated reasons!

This one can usually be found pretty cheap, here’s the cover:

Life Magazine November 26 1945
Life Magazine, November 26, 1945

The November 26, 1945 issue of Life Magazine has a Champion Afghan on the cover. You can usually find them priced about the same as other issues of Life from that period.

But if you take the time to page through the issue you’ll find this:

Jackie Robinson inside 1945 Life
Jackie Robinson - Dodgers Sign First Negro to Play for Organized Baseball
Jackie Robinson inside Life 1945
2 additional photos of Jackie Robinson, playing football up top and baseball below

The second magazine we’re going to look at is no bargain because of more obvious content which we’ll get to in a second, but tucked under the covers of the April 23, 1947 issue of The Sporting News is an article about Robinson’s major league debut, which happened 62 years ago today:

The Sporting News April 23 1947
Article about Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in major league baseball, inside the April 23, 1947 issue of The Sporting News

Unfortunately, you’re not going to find this one on the cheap as the cover of this issue looks like so:

Babe Ruth Memorial Sporting News
Babe Ruth cartoon on the cover with announcement at top of page of "Eight Page Illustrated Life Story of Babe Ruth"

Book value on this issue, inside the Standard Catalog of Sports Memorabilia, 3rd Edition is $300. While I’m not a big believer in Price Guides as any sort of gospel, the guidance given here is that this is a far from ordinary issue of The Sporting News.

But if you’re hunting down Jackie Robinson magazine appearances for your collection, the high value here isn’t going to matter. I just wanted to give you a couple of other places to look for historic Jackie Robinson articles that were less obvious than cover appearances.

Outstanding Old Magazines Prices Realized, Fall 2006

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Following is a list of the Top 10 Prices Realized from September through December 2006 on select eBay Auction and Sales items (Buy it Now items marked with *, all other sales via Auction format). I thought this might help in giving you an idea of current selling trends as well as a general idea of what some specific issues are selling for.

The following includes the magazine title, issue date, condition of the specific issue sold, date of sale, the price the item sold for, as well as any added information about the issue.

  • Saturday Evening Post — Sep. 16 1916 — G-VG or 3.5/10 — Sold Sep. 15 2006 — $255.00 — Norman Rockwell’s 4th Post Cover
  • STORY Magazine — Mar-Apr 1940 — G-VG or 3.5/10 — Sold Nov 1 2006 — $224.50 — J.D. Salinger’s first published story “The Young Folks
  • The Ladies’ Home Journal — July 1901 — G or 3/10 — Sold Sep 19 2006 — $152.50 — “A Small House With Lots of Room in It” by Frank Lloyd Wright
  • The Sporting News — Apr 23 1947 — VG-EX or 4.5/10 — Sold Oct 18 2006 — $105.85 — Jackie Robinson debuts/Babe Ruth on the Cover
  • The American Magazine — Sep 1922 — G-VG or 3.5/10 — Sold Oct 3 2006 — $82.00 — “What I Think and Feel at 25” by F. Scott Fitzgerald with Fitzgerald portrait
  • The New Yorker — Jun 6 1959 — EX or 5/10 — Sold Dec 4 2006 — $72.00 — “Seymour An Introduction” by J.D. Salinger
  • Cosmopolitan — Jul 1948 — EX or 5/10 — Sold Nov 29 2006 — $68.88 — “The Double Corner” by Wallace Stegner
  • STORY Magazine — Aug 1936 — G or 3/10 — Sold Nov 23 2006 — $68.00 * — “Home to Utah” by Wallace Stegner
  • The Sporting News — May 7 1947 — EX+ or 6/10 — Sold Nov 12 2006 — $48.00 — Babe Ruth Day/Jackie Robinson article
  • Saturday Evening Post — Jul 17 1943 — EX+ or 6/10 — Sold Dec 2 2006 — $45.00 * — “The Varioni Brothers” by J.D. Salinger

Beyond giving you an idea of value something that jumps right out at me from looking at this list is that buyers are willing to pay a premium for rare and consequential issues even if they are in less than perfect condition. It should also reinforce two basic lessons for selling on eBay, an unusual item need only two interested parties to realize a satisfying price, while any extra knowledge over an item you hold as seller can be exploited by placing an item for sale at a Fixed Price, a format which only requires one interested party.

Of course this latter method can be exploited by sellers who either don’t know any better or are hoping that their potential customers don’t know better. Surely you’ve come across that ridiculous online listing selling an item for $70 that you picked up for $5. While it’s possible that you did indeed get a deal, chances are if you look deeper into that seller’s inventory you’ll find several $5 items available for much more exorbitant prices. Probably the only thing more annoying is the eBay seller who offers you the $5 item for $5 and then wants to charge you $30 to ship a magazine.