This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 9/10/2022
A gritty competitor, reliable fielder and steady hitter, Ron Fairly had a compact swing with power and was gifted enough with the glove to play all three outfield positions plus first base. In fact, be became just the second player in MLB history to play 1,000+ games in both the outfield and infield (the first being Stan Musial). Fairly played 21 seasons in the Majors (1958-78), the first twelve with the Dodgers where he was part of three World Series championship teams. In 2,442 career games, he tallied 1,913 hits while walking 1052 times and striking out just 877 times. He posted a career .266 batting average and .990 fielding percentage. Interestingly enough, Fairly's career home run total of 215 is the most ever for a player without a 20-HR season.
Featured here is a vintage Dodgers road gamer donned by baseball lifer Ron Fairly during L.A.'s World Series winning season of 1963. Playing 119 of his 152 games that year at first base, Fairly batted .271 with 12 homers and a career-high 77 RBI. The road gray flannel jersey has been signed and inscribed by Fairly underneath his red No. "6" on left chest. The inscription reads "1963 Dodgers World Series Champs" in neat 9-10/10 blue marker. The shirt displays outstanding evidence of game use, with signs of perspiration and significant dirt staining across the front midsection and rear tail area. Properly tagged by Rawlings as size "42" on the left front tail, it also has the ever-important "Fairly 1963" chain-stitched just below. The numbers and letters are all done in felt, but according to MEARS the "Los Angeles" and both No. 6's have been restored. That downgrades it to a MEARS A5.5 grade (rather harsh in our opinion). Above all, the shirt itself is a flannel specimen and a tremendous piece of Dodgers history to own. The autograph has been authenticated by PSA/DNA (cert. # 4A55126).