This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 3/26/2009
For your viewing and bidding pleasure, here is one of those legendary cards that surfaces for trading, if you're lucky, perhaps once a year. A perfect PSA 9 MINT example of Sandy Koufax's eternally challenging and perpetually graceful 1962 Topps wood-grained beauty. Past sales on record have swung wildly, ranging by nearly $60,000 in the past two years alone. And we all know the primary reason. A default of the inviting wood-grain design, at least in the eyes of high-grade enthusiasts, is the fact that 1962 Topps Baseball singles are severely prone to chipping, perhaps more so than any other Topps cards ever produced. The result? As of the date of publication, only 67 GEM MINT 10 specimens have ever surfaced from the entire 1962 Topps Baseball population of nearly 110,000 submissions, which is statistically far closer to the 52 GEMS on record from the hobby-defining 1952 Topps issue than, for example, the 300 on record from the 1961 set. More precisely, Sandy Koufax is not counted among those 67; in fact, this recently graded marvel is just the 9th ever MINT 9 example to ever surface at PSA. However, condition issues and population statistics aside, another compelling reason for the '62 issue's supremacy in the kingdom of Koufax collecting is that the 1961 and '62 seasons marked Sandy's coming out party, beginning the great streak for which he is so revered, even to this day. From Baseball-Reference.com: "From 1962 to 1966, he won the league ERA title each year. He led the league in victories in three of those years. He was named Cy Young Award winner three of those years -- finishing third another year -- and was named MVP in 1963 -- and finishing second in the MVP voting two more times. In three of those years he won the "Triple Crown" for pitchers [Wins, K's, & ERA]. It was quite possibly the greatest five year stretch ever for a pitcher." In short, the already challenging 1962 Topps issue marks the entrance of a baseball immortal, unlike any before him or since, into the annals of history. From 1962 on, every kid collector in the kingdom had to have this card, but I ask you, honestly, how many of them looked as perfect as this?