Directly from the family estate collection of Barney Stein comes this large-format 11" by 14" original photograph of the Brooklyn Dodgers and Cincinnati Reds preparing to play a game in 1957. For the team's final season in Brooklyn, the Dodgers hired a circus clown named Emmitt Kelly to serve as 'Dem Bums' official mascot. He went by "Weary Willie" and is pictured doing one of his notorious pranks to a member of the umpiring crew. We can only imagine what 'ole Willie was up to that time.
The pristine black and white image was printed off the original negative from the famous Dodgers photographer's camera many years later. It has been professionally framed with a lovely white matting inside a thick wooden border (made of ash like most baseball bats). This exact framed photo was on display as part of the Barney Stein Photo Collection exhibit in 2001 at the Frick Art and Historical Museum in Pittsburgh, PA. (Certificate from this exhibit included on reverse side.)
DATE/YEAR: 1957
GENERATION: First (printed from original negative)
*Guaranteed to receive PSA/DNA Type II designation if removed from frame and authenticated.
PHOTOGRAPHER: Barney Stein
PHOTO DIMS: 11” x 14"
FRAMED DIMS: 17" x 20"
CONDITION: Mint
PROVENANCE: Family letter from Barney Stein's daughter Bonnie (Stein) Crosby.
This same image is featured on page 119 of Through a Blue Lens, a 2007 book by Bonnie Crosby and Dennis D'Agostino (forewords by Peter O'Malley and Carl Erskine) that chronicled Barney Stein's 1937-1957 Brooklyn Dodgers photography.