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Circa 1927 Earle Combs Game Worn New York Yankees Cap....
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Description
Murderer's Row-era relic from the 1927 American League Hit King
Circa 1927 Earle Combs Game Worn New York Yankees Cap. Gehrig once remarked that he could have stood on his head in the batter's box and the fans wouldn't have noticed, as they were so transfixed by the persona of Babe Ruth. So one can only imagine how anonymous Earle Combs must have felt in the twin shadows of the two greatest sluggers of the Golden Age game. But the first great Hall of Fame center fielder to call the Bronx home finds his validation in the statistical data of the record books and in the bronze likeness that hangs with Ruth's and Gehrig's at Cooperstown.In the former, we find the bold ink representing American League superlatives for plate appearances (725), at bats (648), hits (231) and triples (23) for Combs in his 1927 lead-off batter role. Add sixty-two bases on balls to the tally and it's easy to see how Ruth and Gehrig were able to drive in 338 runs between them. Ruth was famously quoted as saying, "Combs was more than a good ballplayer; he was always a first-class gentleman."
We see evidence of that fact in the presentation of this velvet-soft navy wool cap, a gift to a wide-eyed teenaged pitcher from Ohio who made the trip to the Big Apple to try out for the mighty Yanks. A notarized letter of provenance from the grandson of Edgar Stahl recounts the story of that brief brush with greatness.
The cap exhibits strong game wear and the signs of decades of storage, soiled but otherwise undamaged, the classic "NY" logo still beaming from above the perfectly malleable visor. The evidence of its Hall of Fame heritage appears at interior leather headband, where an artfully embroidered "E. Combs" appears in golden script.
While the hobby has been treated to a small but important supply of game worn uniform articles from Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig over the past decade, auction databases find not a single Combs specimen in a major auction event. As such, this offering represents the rarest of opportunities for the advanced collector, quite possibly a once in a lifetime chance to celebrate this essential component of the Murderer's Row-era Yankees. LOA from Heritage Auctions.
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Auction Info
2016 February 20 - 21 Platinum Night Auction Sports - New York #7155 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
February, 2016
20th-21st
Saturday-Sunday
Bids + Registered Phone Bidders: 14
Lot Tracking Activity: N/A
Page Views: 3,662
Buyer's Premium per Lot:
19.5% of the successful bid (minimum $14) per lot.
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