The annual Hall of Fame Induction Weekend has been a goldmine for autograph seekers since it opened in 1939. Besides that year’s class of inductees, the celebration attracts those already enshrined as well as future members and current stars. This ball of 19 Hall of Famers and other stars has quite an interesting history. The current owner received the ball from his father who obtained it as a gift on his 12th birthday in 1968.
The original owner was a family friend of New York Giants and St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Famer Frankie Frisch. The original owner had accompanied Frisch to Cooperstown to several Induction Weekends in the 1950s and the Hall of Famer pointed out different ballplayers for his young friend to have sign his baseball.
This ball appears to have been signed at the 1954 and 1955 weekends but to the high content of players inducted in those years and the presence of several players from the Yankees which had played at Doubleday Field in 1954. This incredible ball gathers a who’s-who of Hall of Famers from the game’s Golden Age. The twenty four include Joe McCarthy (HOF 1957), Joe DiMaggio (HOF 1955), Bill Dickey (HOF 1954), Cy Young (HOF 1937), Tris Speaker (HOF 1937), Charles (“Charlie”) Gehringer (HOF 1949), Lefty Gomez (HOF 1972), Bill Terry (HOF 1954), Dazzy Vance (HOF 1955), Mickey Cochrane (HOF 1947), Frank Baker (HOF 1955), Gabby Hartnett (HOF 1955), Casey Stengel (HOF 1966), Ty Cobb (HOF 1936), Ted Lyons (HOF 1955), Jimmy Foxx (HOF 1951), Frankie Frisch (HOF 1947), Paul Waner (HOF 1952), and Johnny Mize (HOF 1981) along with 1930s Yankees infielder Red Rolfe plus current New York Yankees players Joe Page, Allie Reynolds, Irv Noren, and Andy Carey.
The twenty-four have all signed the Reach Official American League Harridge ball in blue pen. An incredible piece of history with a one-of-a-kind array of autographs. The baseball is accompanied by a full LOA from PSA/DNA.