Original photograph capturing the vaunted pitching staff of the World Champion 1927 New York Yankees, signed by six of the ten players pictured. PSA has encapsulated the photo, certifying the photo as Type I Authentic, and each of the signatures as "Authentic." The photo pictures, left to right, Bob Shawkey, Joe Giard, Myles Thomas, Urban Shocker, Waite Hoyt, Herb Pennock, Wilcy Moore, Walter Beall, Dutch Ruether, and George Pipgras. The following players have signed the photo in vintage black fountain pen vertically upon their respective image: Shawkey, Giard, Shocker, Pennock, Moore, and Ruether. Strangely, Pennock has also signed the photo a second time upon the image of Waite Hoyt. The printed names of "Thomas" and "Pipgras" on their respective images are not signatures, but merely identifiers (written in an unknown hand). The signatures are all boldly scripted and range from 8/10 to 10/10.
It must be noted that the signatures of both Urban Shocker and Joe Giard are rare and often missing from even advanced 1927 New York Yankees signature collections. Shocker suffered from a heart condition and died just one year later in 1928 at the age of thirty-seven. 1927 marked Joe Giard's only season in pinstripes and his final year in the Major Leagues. Giard's time in the Majors was brief (three years) and fairly uneventful, so he was not generally sought after by the small number of autograph collectors at the time. Giard also died fairly young at the age of fifty-seven in 1956.
This photo originates from the family of an author who published a book on the 1927 Yankees in 1974. While the history of the photo is unknown by our consignor (the author's son), it was obviously provided to the author by one of the former players during his research on the team. A "World Wide Photos" credit stamp appears on the reverse, along with a few handwritten notations. The photo (10x8") displays a chip in the lower right corner, a few light-to-moderate creases, and tiny edge tears.