Late 1920's Lou Gehrig Single Signed Baseball....

Click the image to load the highest resolution version.

Sold for: Sign-in or Join (free & quick)

Claim Item:

Sign-in or Join (free & quick)

Share this lot

Sell One of These Currency Converter

Description

Auction Info

Guides & Info

Description

Late 1920's Lou Gehrig Single Signed Baseball. The New York Yankees has supplied the sporting world with true icons of the game ever since Babe Ruth took up Big Apple residence at the start of the 1920 season. Derek Jeter today carries the mantle he inherited from Mantle, who took it from Joe DiMaggio, who singled and doubled off Cleveland's ace Bob Feller to extend his hitting streak to nineteen on June 2, 1941, the day the great Iron Horse drew his final breath. Surely, after Jeter's pinstriped deuce joins the rest of the gang in Monument Park, there will be another. Love the Yankees or hate them, the magic is undeniable.

But in that elite brotherhood memorialized beyond the center field fence of the new Stadium, Lou Gehrig commands a certain reverence that even the Babe, the Clipper and the Mick cannot. Gehrig had been the antithesis of the prima donna athlete, quietly brilliant in the shadow of the game's greatest figure, unfailing in his fidelity to his team and the simple dignity of his labors. For fourteen seasons, Gehrig never called in sick, playing through broken bones and concussions which many today believe served a significant role in his fatal illness.

Taken far too soon, and perhaps never fully appreciated during his life, Gehrig provided the hobby with just a tiny fraction of the single signed spheres produced by his rotund slugging cohort. Ruth singles outnumber Gehrigs by a factor of one hundred, and solo Gehrig spheres predating the Babe's Bronx departure in 1934 are all but non-existent. But here we find the definitive example.

The elegantly scripted side panel signature appears in ideal unpersonalized format, retaining a boldness rated a solid nine on a ten point scale. The Official American League ball is only lightly and evenly toned between its red and blue stitching, the bold "E.S. Barnard" presidential stamping limiting its possible vintage to the span between 1927 and 1931. It is a baseball artifact at once unassuming and brilliant, and, as such, a fitting tribute to its creator. Full LOA from PSA/DNA. Full LOA from James Spence Authentication.