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Lot # 1262: 1957 Last Baseball Used at the Polo Grounds

Category: New York Baseball

Starting Bid: $2,500.00

Bids: 1 (Bid History)

Time Left: Auction closed

Lot / Auction Closed




This lot is closed. Bidding is not allowed.

Item was in Auction "May 2002",
which ran from 5/1/2002 12:00 AM to
5/31/2002 9:00 PM



From 1891 to 1957, you could always find the New York Giants at this massive old park, set deep below Coogan's Bluff in uptown Manhattan. If you figure, conservatively, that seventy-seven games a season were played there during this sixty-six year history, with fifty-four outs per game, well, you're looking at well over a quarter million outs recorded. This is the last one. No need to go into an historical diatribe about the importance of this park, the great men from Mathewson to Ott to Mays, events like the "Shot Heard 'round the World…" If you don't understand the significance of this hallowed ground, then this ball does not belong in your collection. It would be wasted there. Fine use on this ONL (Giles) ball shows the scars of the dying gasp of New York Giants baseball, and of the dying dreams of thousands of Big Apple fans who now had to make the hardest decision of their lives: to give up sunny afternoons at the ballpark forever, or, god forbid, to become a Yankees fan. For those men, women and children, this sad little sphere represents a loss and a betrayal unlike any they had ever known. Side panel inscription is in the hand of the great Yankee outfielder who was coaching for the Giants that day, Tom Henrich. Black ink is 10/10, and reads, "Given to Tom Henrich by Frank Thomas, 1st Baseman of Pittsburgh Pirates." Second side panel holds those tearful words, "Last Ball, Last Game in History of Giants in Polo Grounds, 1957." LOA included. The end.

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