This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 4/28/2013
An ultra-rare jersey from a long defunct Depression Era ball club would be heady stuff on the auction
block all by itself, but you link it to a legendary Hall of Famer and you’ve now entered an elite territory
within the hobby. After a 14-year major league career of considerable success, Casey Stengel decided to
redirect his talents into management. In the middle of the Great Depression, he was put at the helm of the
Brooklyn Dodgers to modest results, and then moved to Boston Bees, where he donned this very jersey.
Ultimately, his managerial career of 25 years encompassed over 3,700 games and 1,905 career wins, but
most of them came with the New York Yankees, where he won 10 pennants and seven World Championships
before being unceremoniously shoved out the door after the loss in the 1960 World Series to the Pirates.
This heavyweight, flannel home jersey, worn by “The Old Perfesser” himself, represents the upper tier of
equipment collecting. It dates from the early stages of his tenure with the Boston Bees, which lasted from
1938-43 (the team name changed to the Boston Braves for the 1941 season). The jersey has reportedly
been in one family for the last 70 years and had been acquired by a young man who was trying out for
professional baseball. He was given this jersey to wear and kept it. It is completely original and in great
shape, with a few minor moth holes being the only fault of note. There is a Horace Partridge Co. tag on the
collar along with “Stengel” sewn in script on a swatch of felt. Large “B” on the left breast is blue-on-yellow
felt and the No. 31 on the back is the same blue on yellow felt. The cut of the yellow felt gives the number
a three-dimensional effect. The jersey is in superb condition, a fitting testimony to one of the most fabled
characters to ever set foot on a diamond.