Circa 1976 Bill Veeck Single Signed American League Baseball PSA/DNA

This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 11/14/2015

Bill Veeck was the man who by many is considered the P.T. Barnum of Major League baseball. He signed midget (that’s the term used in the newspapers at the time) Eddie Gaedel to a St. Louis Browns contract. Gaedel would actually get his turn at bat in 1951 in a game against the Tigers. Veeck is often credited for encouraging the integration of baseball. In 1947, he signed the first African-American to the American League, by bringing in future Hall Of Famer, Larry Doby up with the Cleveland Indians. The next year he would sign Satchel Paige. Veeck was considered a player’s owner. He passed away in 1986 and was posthumously elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991.

Consigned to us is a baseball fresh to the market from a gentleman in Chicago whose father did some work back in the 1970s for the owner of the Dumpling House in Stickney, IL on Harlem Avenue. The owner of the restaurant was good friends with the consignor’s family and Bill Veeck. The owner sold the restaurant around 1973, but still maintained his friendship with Veeck and had him sign this Lee MacPhail (circa 1976) baseball that still has the original box. Bill Veeck signed the side panel above the Official Ball seal in blue ballpoint. We'd grade the signature a 7-8/10 as there is some slight crazing along the “B” in Bill where Veeck must have rubbed his hand as he was signing the ball. We’d bet there’s still some Bill Veeck DNA adorning this sphere. Ball would grade a 9/10. The box is a 7/10. Comes with a full PSA/DNA LOA that our consignor had done at the National Sports Collector’s Convention in August of 2015. FRESH! FRESH! FRESH! RARE! RARE! RARE!

Letter of Authenticity from Richard Albersheim and Full COA from PSA/DNA.