2000's President George W. Bush & First Lady Laura Bush Signed Photograph from The Monte Irvin Collection.. ...

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2000's President George W. Bush & First Lady Laura Bush Signed Photograph from The Monte Irvin Collection.
We don't suppose it's a coincidence that the former co-owner of the Texas Rangers happened to find himself hosting a summit of Baseball Hall of Famers at the White House. Here are Irvin's mementos of the occasion, anchored by an 8x10" photo of him with the President and First Lady, signed by both of them (autographs 9/10). Also here is an enlarged reproduction of that photo (18x20" framed), and an unsigned photo of the full gathering of baseball luminaries (18x23" framed). All photos are NRMT-MT. Letter of provenance from daughter of Monte Irvin.

The Monte Irvin Collection

The story of Jackie Robinson is one of the most important in the annals of American sports history, but that tale is diminished in no way by the insistence that Robinson did not shoulder the weight of history alone. It was only fifteen months after Robinson's debut that the great Monte Irvin made his own, the fourth African-American to wear the uniform of a Major League team, and the first in the history of the Giants franchise.

Certainly the fight for acceptance, much less equality, was far from over when Irvin took his first brave steps into the maelstrom but, like Robinson, his steady resolve and extraordinary talents were essential tools in righting the sport's most grievous wrong. He remains one of the most significant athletes of any American sport active during the post-war era.

The lots that follow derive from Mr. Irvin's personal collection, covering a wide range of decades from his youth in the Negro Leagues through his 1973 Hall of Fame induction, and onward through the closing years of his long life as one of baseball's great ambassadors. Each lot will be accompanied by a letter of provenance from Irvin's daughter.

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