1955 Sandy Koufax Game Worn Brooklyn Dodgers Rookie Jersey, MEARS A9.5 & Photo Matched!...

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1955 Sandy Koufax Game Worn Brooklyn Dodgers Rookie Jersey, MEARS A9.5 & Photo Matched! There are two times in my life the hair on my arms has stood up," reported famed Dodgers scout Al Campanis. "The first time I saw the Sistine Chapel, and the first time I saw Sandy Koufax throw a fastball." That experience came as Campanis assumed a hitter's stance in the Ebbets Field batter's box in December 1954 to see if the hype had been true. Koufax had reportedly broken the thumb of the Pittsburgh Pirates' batting coach Sam Narron at a Forbes Field tryout, where former Dodgers and current Pirates general manager Branch Rickey declared Koufax' left to be "the greatest arm I've ever seen."

Though Campanis had served a brief tour of duty as a Major League player, the stunning velocity of the youngster's heater nearly buckled his knees. The Dodgers offered him a contract on the spot, with a hefty signing bonus that Koufax would use to fund his education in case baseball didn't pan out. Instead, what would follow was a brief but unequivocal age of dominance that made a hero of Koufax not just to the legions of Jewish sports fans eager for a new champion, but to a brave new frontier of Major League fans that awaited the Dodgers' relocation to Los Angeles.

The road grey beauty could be the very first jersey ever worn in Major League competition by the iconic southpaw, as Koufax would debut on June 24, 1955 in the fifth inning of a visit to the Milwaukee Braves. The twenty-year old lefty would display both his rookie nerves and his fighting spirit in that first appearance, recording a throwing error and loading the bases with no outs before striking out notorious Dodger killer Bobby Thomson and then inducing Joe Adcock into a double-play grounder to end the threat. With standard practice in the Majors at this time providing two home and two road uniforms to each player, the odds that the presented jersey is the one that Koufax wore in his debut is an even fifty-fifty. We also remind bidders that Game Seven of the 1955 World Series was played at Yankee Stadium, so celebratory locker room champagne may lurk deep in the fibers of the garment.

It survives in 100% original and unaltered condition, the sole half-point deduction assessed by the experts at MEARS for "small holes" near the collar and tail that only the closest of inspection will reveal. The aesthetics are effectively unimprovable, and instantly evocative of that most exciting time in New York City baseball. "Dodgers" is crafted from blue felt in that timeless script across the chest, the same material forming the number "32" on reverse that would never ride another player's jersey. Blue piping at collar, button path and sleeves remains complete and undamaged.

Interior collar is properly tagged "Rawlings Hall of Fame Flannel [size] 44." Embroidered directly into the lower left front tail in blue thread is "Koufax." Interior lower left tail holds a washing instructions label that anchors a flap tag reporting the most delectable vintage: "Set 1 1955."

It's remarkable how close Koufax came to being a mere footnote in baseball history, throwing his glove and spikes into the Dodger Stadium clubhouse trash can following the last game of the 1960 season, intent on turning his attentions to an electronics business in which he had invested. But, in the offseason, he made up his mind to give the sport one more shot. "That winter was when I really started working out. I started running more. I decided I was really going to find out how good I can be." He would record his first "breakout" season in 1961, winning eighteen and besting Christy Mathewson's fifty-eight year old National League strikeout record. He'd earn six All-Star rings and three Cy Young Awards before retiring at age thirty at the close of the 1966 season.

They say that shooting stars burn the brightest, and those six extraordinary seasons were enough to convince the Hall of Fame voters to induct the Semitic superstar in 1972. But even Cooperstown lacks a Koufax relic with the seminal significance of this remarkable World Championship rookie jersey, one of the most important Dodgers relics ever made available for public sale. The jersey has been definitively matched to two photographs of 1956 spring training (it was common practice to wear last year's uniforms in the spring), with likely photo matches to two other images from the same period. LOA from MEARS, A9.5. LOA from Resolution Photomatching. LOA from Heritage Auctions.