This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 9/29/2019
In the fall of 1953, Dodgers manager Chuck Dressen demanded the unthinkable from team owner Walter O'Malley: a multi-year contract. Despite winning two consecutive pennants, management refused to give in to Dressen's demands and he was replaced by a relative unknown named Walter Alston. Walt gladly signed the one-year deal, and he kept signing them for the next 23 years, becoming the longest tenured manager in Dodgers history. Over that span, "Smokey" consistently proved his mettle, ultimately winning seven NL pennants and four World Series titles and piling up over 2,000 victories prior to his retirement in 1976. He was selected as Manager of the Year six times and skippered the NL in seven All-Star games. His quiet, reticent managerial style was finally given its proper due in 1983 with election to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
By the time Alston donned this snazzy 1961 L.A. Dodgers home jersey, he had already won two championships, managing Brooklyn to its lone title in 1955 and then adding another in the franchise's second year on the West Coast in '59. The impeccably preserved, creamy white flannel features a scripted blue felt "Dodgers" across the chest with a red felt No. "24" and that number repeated in blue felt on the back. The lower left front tail is properly tagged by Rawlings with a size 46 label along with "Alston 61" chain-stitched in blue below. Just inside the left tail is the wash instructions with "Set 1 1961" flap tag. A "1" is handwritten in black marker inside the collar, presumably for the set number. The button-up shirt remains in outstanding, all-original condition, having been carefully stored over the last half century. The jersey shows moderate wear with even puckering and a brown soiling stain on the front. The felt numbers and letters are original to the shirt with consistent pilling. A classic flannel from the proud Dodger franchise's most accomplished manager.