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Lot # 885: Circa 1945 Ebbets Field Employee Badge

Starting Bid: $200.00

Bids: 17 (Bid History)

Time Left: Auction closed
Lot / Auction Closed




This lot is closed. Bidding is not allowed.

Item was in Auction "2023 Fall Classic",
which ran from 10/29/2023 7:00 PM to
11/18/2023 10:00 PM



Displayed is a circa 1945 Ebbets Field employee's badge, the first one we have ever seen. Who could image what would take place for the Brooklyn Dodgers and Ebbets Field in the next dozen years. Was the employee who wore this badge an usher, a member of the grounds crew, a worker in the concession stands? During the 1945 baseball season, World War II came to an end, first in Europe and then in Japan. Leo Durocher was managing Brooklyn in 1945, and he played just a little. Ralph Branca, who would give up a game winning home run to Bobby Thomson in the famous The Miracle of Coogan's Bluff playoff game in 1951, was already on the 1945 Dodgers roster, pitching at only 19 years of age. Pee Wee Reese and many other Dodgers were still in military service. Soon, Branch Rickey would sign Jackie Robinson for Brooklyn, and Robinson would play in the minors in 1946 and break the modern Major League Baseball color line on April 15, 1947, at Ebbets Field. The Dodgers would win National League pennants in 1947, '49, '52, '53, '55, and '56, and the team's only Brooklyn World Championship in '55. Only a little more than two years after that, the Dodgers would leave Ebbets Field and move to Los Angeles. The metal pass is 2" in diameter. Stamped on the front is "EBBETS FIELD 152 EMPLOYEE." The pass weighs almost one ounce. The metal clasp on the back of the pass is missing. The green color around the number 152 has partially worn off, and the pass shows great use, with some nicks, abrasions, and small scratches. The rare pass hearkens back to the time when the Brooklyn Dodgers were on the brink of their greatest era.

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