1934 Tour of Japan Team Signed Menu from The Jimmie Foxx Collection....

Description

1934 Tour of Japan Team Signed Menu from The Jimmie Foxx Collection. On November 2, 1934 a team of American League all-stars arrived on the Japanese shores to begin a pioneering Asian baseball tour versus teams from Japan, China and the Philippines. They were greeted by nearly 500,000 Japanese fans who lined the streets of Tokyo and shouted "Banzai! Banzai, Babe Ruth!" Ruth waived both American and Japanese flags, shook countless hands, and singlehandedly brought traffic to a dead standstill.

The menu offered here for the "Imperial Hotel Gala Dinner Dance In Honor Of The American League All-Star Baseball Players, Saturday, November 3rd, 1934" is Jimmie Foxx's personal copy. It has been signed by the entire American entourage (thirty signatures), including Hall of Famers Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx (signed "Jimmie Foxx, Jr."), Connie Mack, Charlie Gehringer, Lefty Gomez, and Earl Averill. Others include Lefty O'Doul, Bing Miller, Earl Whitehill, Clint Brown, Joe Cascarella, Robert J. Schroeder (Athletics traveling secretary), Doc Ebling (Athletics trainer), John Quinn (MLB executive), J.A. "Bud" Hillerich (founder of Hillerich & Bradsby) Bud Warren (part of the American contingent), Elfrida S. Macfarland (Ben Shibe's daughter), Mrs. Babe Ruth, Mrs. Lou Gehrig, Mrs. Jimmie Foxx, Mrs. Lefty O'Doul, Mrs. Lefty Gomez, Mrs. Earl Averill, Mrs. Earl Whitehill, Mrs. J.A. Hillerich, and Mrs. Robert J. Schroeder, plus two Japanese signatures.

The autographs have been applied in black steel-tip fountain pen and grade an overall 8.5/10 in strength. Meanwhile, the 10x7" menu remains in EX condition with no serious flaws. Tour of Japan memorabilia continues to fascinate collectors and baseball historians alike, and steadily rising prices bear witness to this fact. A solid investment piece with impeccable provenance. Letter of provenance from William Foxx. Full LOA from PSA/DNA.

More Information: The Jimmie Foxx Collection

He was a junior in high school when he first stepped upon a Major League diamond, making his debut at age seventeen with the 1925 Philadelphia Athletics, a team he'd shepherd through a three-season rule of the American League in the late 1920's and early 1930's. Thunderous power was The Beast's primary calling card, and he'd club sixty home runs in 1932, denied a tie for Babe Ruth's single-season record when rain-outs wiped two of them off his stat sheet. But he'd soon become the Bambino's first roommate in the 500 Home Run Clubhouse in 1940, a feat that would ensure his eventual induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

That milestone baseball appears within the extraordinary collection that follows, the highlight of a remarkable assembly of personally owned items from one of the prewar game's premier long ball artists. The first portion of the collection is consigned to auction by Foxx' son William, with each lot accompanied by his signed letter of provenance. The balance derives from Foxx' short-lived namesake restaurant in Galesburg, Illinois, retained for years by his business partner. Most of these items were on display for diners, while others relate to the construction thereof. Together, these two related groupings form the most significant single offering of Jimmie Foxx material to appear in a single auction.