YORK, Pa. – Superheroes aren’t always the product of fantasy. Sometimes they’re ordinary people who’ve gone on to achieve superhuman goals – like the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and baseball legend Martin Dihigo, the only man ever to be inducted in the Baseball Halls of Fame in the United States, Mexico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. Backed by their rich and unique legacies, Dihigo and King unquestionably deserve the title of “superhero” and the right to stand alongside Superman in Hake’s Auction #215, which closes for bidding July 14-16.

The centerpiece among the many important civil rights mementos entered in the 2,600-lot sale is a 1958 first edition of Dr. King’s Stride Toward Freedom (pictured above) which the civil rights icon signed and gifted to US Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren a few months after its publication. Warren’s leadership was widely credited with the passage in 1954 of Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark bill that banned segregation in public schools. In a bold hand, Dr. King inscribed the book: “To: Justice Earl Warren, In appreciation for your genuine good-will, your great humanitarian concern, and for your unswerving devotion to the sublime principles of our American democracy. With warm Regards, Martin L. King Jr.” Held in Justice Warren’s personal library for a lifetime and now consigned to auction by the Warren family, the book is a unique cultural artifact and estimated at $20,000-$35,000.

As was the case with Dr. King, there were no footsteps to follow for “El Maestro,” Martin Dihigo (Cuban, 1906-1971), who is pictured below. His plaque at Cooperstown describes the five-nation Hall of Famer as “the most versatile of all Negro League players.” Along with Babe Ruth, Dihigo is regarded as one of the greatest two-way players in baseball history. His fellow HOFer Buck Leonard summed it up concisely when he described Dihigo as “the best ballplayer of all time, black or white.”

“Hake’s is tremendously proud to be auctioning Martin Dihigo’s personal memorabilia archive on behalf of the Dihigo family,” said Hake’s President Alex Winter. “In part, it documents a remarkable career through 1940s team photos of Martin with the Havana Lions and Cienfuegos Elephants in Cuba, and later with the Mexican League’s Xalapa Chileros. But in addition, the archive includes the 1920s-era baseball cards that Martin collected as a teenager. Never before have we ever encountered anything like this, where a baseball player’s memorabilia includes his boyhood collection of baseball cards.”

Completing the triumvirate of superheroes featured in Hake’s auction is the one and only Man of Steel, represented by an extraordinary collection of Superman items amassed by the late Ken “Franco” Toscanini. While he did not begin collecting until 1992, Toscanini made up for it in a hurry. He became the ubiquitous figure at comic book shops, collector shows and conventions who wanted anything and everything – early or modern – that pertained to Superman. Over time, Toscanini’s vast collection incorporated not only comics, but also premiums, licensed merchandise, movie promos, original art and anything offbeat or rare emblazoned with the trademark “S.”

One of the collection’s highlights is an original-release 1941-43 Paramount Pictures/Fleischer Cartoons linen-mounted Superman poster, estimated at $10,000-$20,000.

In the Disneyana section of the sale, there’s an early 1930s Charlotte Clark soft doll trio comprised of like-new examples of Mickey, Minnie and Pluto estimated at $5,000-$10,000.

A magnificent, complete set of Old King Cole store displays replicating Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is the only known set of its type to include all of the figures. There are eight painted composition displays of the beloved cartoon characters plus two painted fiberboard displays of quaint cottages, each of a different style and color. The Snow White lot is estimated at $10,000-$20,000.

Only a handful of posters like this one touting a 1968 Washington, DC appearance by the Jimi Hendrix Experience are known to exist. Estimate: $5,000-$10,000.

And there are few signed, inscribed photos of John F. Kennedy to rival this one, estimated at $2,000-$5,000.

For additional information about the auction, call toll-free: 866-404-9800 or 717-434-1600. Online: www.hakes.com.

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