This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/29/2020
Offered here is a rare single-signed baseball from former Red Sox budding 1960's star, Tony Conigliaro. The slugging right-fielder got off to a smashing start with his hometown Sox, going deep in his very first big league at-bat in 1964. He batted .290 with 24 homers as a 19-year-old rookie, then led the AL with 32 bombs in '65, becoming the youngest ever to do so. Young Tony seemed well on his way to help Yaz carry the torch after the Splendid Splinter's departure in 1960, when disaster struck [his face] in 1967. Angels pitcher Jack Hamilton nailed Conigliaro's face with an errant fastball, breaking his cheekbone, dislocating his jaw and causing permanent damage to his eyesight. "Tony C" made a heroic comeback in 1969, hitting 20 long balls and driving in 82 runs. In 1970, he blasted 36 dingers with 116 RBI to win MLB's Hutch Award for his courageous efforts to return to stardom. Unfortunately, his vision kept deteriorating and forced him to retire early at age 26 a year later. Oh, what could have been!
This is one of the nicer Tony C singles you will find. He has signed the east panel in strong 7-8/10 blue ballpoint. The soiled OAL (Cronin) ball dates to his playing era and has the look of a game-used ball. We don't have the whole story, but perhaps it was knocked out of play at Fenway "pahk" and picked up by an adoring fan of the studly Italian. The Reach manufacturer labels have mostly faded off, but are still readable. Includes full LOA from JSA (X74953).