The glove that Jackie Robinson wore during the last season of his career has sold as part of Steiner Sports' Ground Breaking Auction, which closed yesterday (June 3).
 As well as being a fantastic player, Jackie Robinson was the first African American to play Major League Baseball since the 1880s |
Robinson also wore the glove during the Brooklyn Dodgers 1955 World Series win, in which the team secured their first ever title, with victory against the New York Yankees. It sold for $343,000.
Robinson's importance to baseball cannot be overemphasised. In 1947, he became the first African American to play Major League Baseball since the 1880s, bringing about the end of racial segregation that had lasted for almost six decades.
He was also a fantastic player, playing in six World Series and being selected for six consecutive All-Star games from 1949 to 1954. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962, as the first black MLB Rookie of the Year and National League Most Valuable Player.
 Mantle would become baseball's highest paid player in 1961 |
Also selling well was Mickey Mantle's 1960 contract with the New York Yankees, which sold for $39,930, with profits benefitting the victims of Hurricane Sandy.
The contract, which is made out for a $60,000 salary, comes from the same year that Mantle played his first MLB All-Star Game. The following year, he became the highest paid player in the game after signing a $75,000 contract.
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