This summer, Freeman’s is pleased to present How History Unfolds on Paper: Important Americana from the Eric C. Caren Collection, Part X on June 30, 2026, featuring material spanning more than three centuries of American history. This single-owner auction represents one of the most extensive documentations of American history in private hands. Included within the sale is a dedicated section devoted to baseball, bringing together newspapers, press photographs, trading cards, and other printed material that chronicles the game's development and enduring place in American culture. 

Spanning the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, this group documents many of the sport's defining figures and moments through the contemporary materials that first brought them to the public. From Mickey Mantle's first appearance on the front page of a local newspaper to a striking Type 1 press photograph of Lou Gehrig's hands at the height of his career, these items capture the personalities, achievements, and popular appeal that defined baseball's Golden Age and secured its place in American history. 

Items include a press photograph of Lou Gehrig's Hands: "The Two Big Guns of the N.Y. Yanks" A fine and powerful Type 1 press photograph of baseball legend Lou Gehrig, focusing closely on the powerful hands that helped make him one of the most celebrated baseball players of all time. The image recalls the strong tonal contrasts and intimate compositions associated with the work of noted baseball photographer Charles Conlon (1868-1945), whose best-known image of Gehrig was a close-up photograph of his eyes.  (est. $8,000 – 12,000), also an uncut panel of 1926 W512 Strip Cards, including Babe Ruth, Rogers Hornsby abd others (est: $2,000 – 3,000),  also Mickey Mantle's First Cover: The Earliest Front-Page Newspaper Image of Mickey Mantle, "Something Good from Joplin" (The Southwestern, Joplin, Missouri, Friday, March 30, 1951. Vol. 17, No. 6. On the cusp of entering the majors to play for the New York Yankees, a young Mickey Mantle is profiled here in Joplin, Missouri's hometown newspaper. Featuring a front-page, above-the-fold, image of young Mick, the earliest front-page newspaper image of the baseball legend and Hall of Famer, followed by four columns dedicated to the rising star.(est. $8,000 – 12,000)

For more information contact Freeman’s Communications at (312) 280-1212 or press@freemansauction.com.