1920 Walter Johnson Game Worn Washington Senators Jersey - Photo Matched to First Game Facing Babe Ruth as a Yankee (Career Vi...

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The only Walter Johnson jersey in private hands!

1920 Walter Johnson Game Worn Washington Senators Jersey - Photo Matched to First Game Facing Babe Ruth as a Yankee (Career Victory #299)! In much the same manner that Babe Ruth blazed the trail forward from the Dead Ball Era to Live with his thunderous home run clouts, this flamethrowing Kansas farm boy seemingly redefined the laws of baseball physics to his own advantage through the application of raw, terrifying power. "The first time I faced him, I watched him take that easy windup," the legendary Ty Cobb once recounted. "And then something went past me that made me flinch. The thing just hissed with danger. We couldn't touch him. Every one of us knew we'd met the most powerful arm ever turned loose in a ball park."

It is believed that only two jerseys worn in Major League competition by Walter Johnson survive to this day. One of them is on display at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York where the Big Train joined Ruth, Cobb and a small handful of other early legends as the inaugural induction class in 1939. This is the other, thus the sole representation in private hands.

Remarkably, this jersey has been definitively matched to a photograph snapped on April 29, 1920 during a game that found these two titans of our national pastime facing off at the Polo Grounds in upper Manhattan, where the Babe was donning pinstripes for just the third time. Having been held hitless in his first two home games representing the New York Yankees, Ruth would record both his first hit and his first RBI in front of a supportive Big Apple audience against Johnson. Ruth's RBI groundout in the bottom of the ninth would deny Johnson the shutout in a 2-1 Senators victory that carried his career tally to 299 of an eventual 417.

After leading the American League with microscopic ERA's of 1.27 and 1.49 in 1918 and 1919 respectively, the Big Train was still dominant in this early-season contest at the dawning of the Live Ball Era, allowing just five hits and no walks and recording eight strikeouts (Ruth being responsible for two of them). Johnson also produced some magic at the plate in the shadow of Coogan's Bluff that afternoon, tripling to left field to lead off the top of the fifth inning before being gunned down at home two batters later on a fielder's choice.

The monumentally rare and significant garment is crafted from heavy grey flannel with blue pinstripes, the black logo "W" on the each bicep validating the "less is more" wisdom of its designer. Intriguingly, each logo "W" is reinforced with a square patch of jersey fabric at interior sleeve, each cut and aligned to match up with the pinstripes even though only Johnson's biceps would ever enjoy that view. The cadet collar reminds us that, like its master, the jersey marks a transitional period of the game. Common in the first two decades of the twentieth century baseball fashion, it would be gone by the start of the third. Interior collar bears the simple and correct "Spalding" manufacturer's label, underscored by the essential "Johnson" script embroidered directly into the jersey. We find a small degree of rust staining in this area, almost certainly from years spent upon a metal hanger. This is a common occurrence in jerseys of advanced age--check the 1908 Cy Young jersey in our Permanent Auction Archives to see another example of the effect.

The jersey entered the collecting hobby through the granddaughter of Eric "Swat" Erickson, a Swedish-born right hander who pitched seven seasons of Major League ball, representing the Washington Senators between 1919 and 1922. The letter explains that Erickson built a farmhouse in Jamestown, New York upon his retirement from baseball after the 1922 season and stored all of his baseball keepsakes in that family home where his granddaughter was living when the jersey entered the collecting hobby in the early 2000's.

The jersey survives in miraculous original and unaltered condition, with no physical faults beyond the aforementioned rust staining at interior collar and shoulders. This minor issue was not enough to compel the experts at MEARS to deduct any points from their assessment, thus the assignment of a perfect grade. Magnificently preserved, definitively authenticated and singularly unique to the collecting marketplace, this is one of the most significant baseball jerseys ever to appear on the hobby's auction block. LOA from MEARS, A10. LOA from Resolution Photomatching. Notarized letter of provenance from granddaughter of Senators teammate. LOA from Heritage Auctions.