In 2008, veteran hobbyist Alan Getz passed away from a heart attack at the age of 65. Alan, one of the most respected and knowledgeable sports publication collectors in the country, had assembled one of the most comprehensive World Series and All-Star Game program collections in existence, including the earliest examples. He was a renowned sports collector who had a jovial personality and enjoyed discussing his hobby with others. He was also a businessman, a father of two and, of course, a huge sports fan. Legendary Auctions is proud to offer the first installment of the Alan Getz Collection, with a number of future auctions to feature the balance of the collection.
We can certainly say that this is by far the largest collection of sports publications ever to reach public auction, and we are extremely grateful to Lorraine and Monica Getz, who have entrusted us to handle their father’s lifetime collection.
Bidding will begin November 7th at legendaryauctions.com on The Alan Getz Collection and over 2,500 other offerings of the finest sports collectibles the industry has to offer.
For Alan, sports programs always had the most allure because unlike baseball cards, he felt, programs were not made to be collected; they were just printed for game days. “For me, it’s part of the game. It tells a story about the person who was actually at the game and a little about the game at that time in history.”
Alan’s love of collecting was not understood by everyone. He once told his daughters a story about coming home from college and asking his mother where his sports collection was. Her response was, “that old stuff? I threw it out.” Needless to say, Alan decided not to keep his collection at his mother’s any longer. Through the decades, he acquired some of the rarest World Series programs extant. One of the premier pieces in his collection is the 1910 World Series program at Philadelphia (pictured above, center), with less than five known examples. (This program is considered to be far more rare than even the 1903 World Series program.) His collection also includes the scarce 1907 World Series at Detroit (pictured above, left) and the even scarcer 1910 World Series at Chicago (pictured above, right).
Baseball was not the only sport that Alan cherished. He also accumulated a comprehensive collection of college and pro football programs, including New Year’s Day bowl games, AFL and NFL championship games, Super Bowls, and much, much more. He also found ticket stubs to be historically significant, and ended up collecting a variety of tickets from World Series and All-Star games, football championship games, and the like. He didn’t stop with these sports, as he also kept basketball, hockey and boxing programs in his vast holdings.
