The 1955 Yankees were a team in transition. The Casey Stengel-led club had won the World Championship every year from 1949 through 1953, but the older players had aged out and 1954 was spent re-tooling the lineup and rotation. The biggest change was the pitching - White Ford remained as the team’s ace but he was augmented with Bob Turley, Don Larsen and Tommy Byrne. Old standby’s of the infield Phil Rizzuto and Joe Collins were relegated to the bench and rookie Elston Howard became the first African-American to don the Yankees pinstripes. The new-look Yanks edged out defending champs Cleveland and once again faced their cross-town rivals, the Brooklyn Dodgers. For the first and only time in the seven epic World Series’ they faced each other, New York came away the vanquished. None-the-less, this core team would go one to win it all in 1956 and 1958.
Twenty-eight (28) members of the AL champs have signed this P-Official ball including Hall of Famers Mickey Mantle (SS), Phil Rizzuto, Whitey Ford and Yogi Berra (SS) along with Elston Howard, Tommy Byrne, Bob Grim, Joe Collins, Charlie Silvera, Ed Robinson, Joe Coleman, Bob Turley, Gil McDougald, Irv Noren, Tom Morgan, Frank Leja, Bill Skowron, Bob Wiesler, Bill Hunter, Ed Lopat, Bob Cerv, Hank Bauer, Andy Carey, Tom Sturdivant, John Kucks, and Jim Konstanty. The ball has been coated with shellac which has given it a warm tone and the blue ball point signatures are very strong, ranging 7-9/10 for strength and eye appeal. The nice Mantle autograph on the sweet spot is 7-8 in our book.
Full LOA from PSA/DNA. COA from All-American Collectibles.