This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/8/2013
Ray Crone made his major league debut with the Milwaukee Braves on April 13, 1954 at age 22. He spent 19 games with the big league club, starting two of them and going 1-0 with a 2.02 ERA in 49 innings of work. Of all pitchers on the team that season, he had the second-lowest ERA (trailing only Charlie Gorin's 1.86). Crone was a solid performer for the Braves over four seasons until he was traded mid-season in 1957 along with Danny O'Connell and Bobby Thomson to the New York Giants for Hall of Famer Red Schoendienst. Over the course of his five-year major league career, Crone went 30-30 with a 3.87 ERA in 137 games (61 starts).
Milwaukee Braves home flannel jerseys are perhaps the most attractive of all 1950's style jerseys and are highly prized by collectors today. Worn by Ray Crone during the 1956 season, this white flannel zipper-front jersey is lettered "Braves" across the chest in script with a "tomahawk" (in black and gold felt) below. Crone’s number “20” is on the front left breast and reverse while the elaborate Braves "Indian with headdress" patch appears on the left sleeve. All letters and numbers are in red felt with black trim. Affixed to the left front tail, in descending order, are a "Wilson 42" label (bearing the name Crone in slightly faded ink), a wash tag and a white felt name patch with "Crone 56" chain stitched in red on it. The zipper is rust free and remains in perfect working order. All elements of the jersey are original and unaltered save for the felt name patch on the tail. When viewed from the reverse on the inside of the tail an unidentified name can be seen written underneath the name patch. We suspect that the jersey was reissued to another player at some point with the original name patch having been removed and later replaced by the existing patch. The red chain stitch on the existing patch perfectly matches that of other contemporary Braves jerseys we’ve inspected. The jersey exhibits moderate game use with a handful of small unobtrusive team repairs. It has been beautifully preserved and is still soft, supple and boasts bold colors. A fine example of the most aesthetically dynamic baseball jerseys ever produced. Included with the jersey is an example of Ray Crone’s 1954 Topps #206 rookie baseball card graded NM-MT 8 by PSA.