1997 signed baseball by closer extraordinaire Dennis Eckersley. Official National League (Coleman) ball shows light use with areas of some toning from age. Eck has signed in black ballpoint pen on the sweet spot along with his number 43, and on the panel to the right has added "June 26, 1997 - #368 save" in his own hand. In that June 26 game, Eckersley tossed the final inning, allowing no runs and one hit while slamming the door as his St. Louis Cardinals topped the Cincinnati Reds in a 5-3 victory. The '97 season was the last as a closer for the Hall of Famer, who eventually reached a career total of 390 saves. It's impressive enough that this stands 9th on the all-time list until one considers that the right-hander was a starter for the first 12 of his 24 Major League season; add in his 197 career victories and Eckersley stands as one of the winningest pitchers in MLB history.