The title of this lot alludes to a 7-by-6-inch photocopied image of six legendary Yankees that includes 9/10 blue ballpoint signatures of Bob Shawkey and Joe McCarthy, but the real star of the lot is an absolutely priceless series of letters addressed to Casey Stengel alluding to an interview request from the sports editor of Look magazine. In the first letter, dated November 23, 1949, sports editor Tim Cohane politely requests Casey to set up a time when he is visiting in New York the following month when Look could interview and photograph Stengel for an article to come out in March of 1950. The second letter, a two-page doozy again on Look letterhead, now reveals a wildly indignant Cohane, smarting mightily from a telephone exchange with Casey that included a greeting from the manager that went, according to Cohane, like this: "For Christ's sake, when do you want some of my time?" Seemingly enraged, Cohane takes up a page and a half to scold the manager, noting with a certain supercilious tone that Look had provided an enormous amount of publicity/coverage of the Yankees over the years, even going so far as to list various articles, tabulate a hypothetical dollar value to it all ($131,894) and even tout the magazine's admittedly enormous circulation in 1949. Best of all, he closes with a snide reference to Stengel's first World Series title a couple of months earlier, comparing it apparently with a straight face, to when he earned his first New York City byline several years before. The event, Cohane noted dryly, had given him a bit of a big head for awhile, so he had some understanding of how Stengel might be feeling a bit puffed up at the moment. Cohane must have copied Yankees owner Dan Topping with the letter, since the next letter in the lot is on Yankees letterhead and signed by Topping, very gently chiding Stengel about the fuss, which had apparently included nettlesome phone calls to Yankees PR guru Red Patterson. A final unrelated letter in the lot is from October of 1950 where an attorney from Ohio tries his hand at scolding Stengel, this time for what he saw as Stengel's "shoddy" treatment of Tommy Henrich in the 1950 World Series. A final piece in the lot is a 4-by-14-inch editorial from Life magazine entitled "Love Those Yankees." Love em or hate em, with Stengel at the helm they were never dull. The letters are in highly presentable condition with minimal corner wear, revealing only a number of pinholes and paperclip indentations suggesting they might have spent time on a bulletin board (or maybe dartboard?) or two.
Pre-certified by PSA/DNA.