This lot is closed. Bidding ended on 6/6/2013.
On May 7, 1950, the Pittsburgh Pirates were host to the Brooklyn Dodgers at Forbes Field. With the score tied 2-2 in the top of the sixth inning, Jackie Robinson stepped to the plate to face Pirates hurler, Murray Dickson. With an 0-1 count, Robinson crushed the next pitch for a solo dinger, the game winning home run as fate would have it as the Dodgers held on for a 3-2 victory. It was Jackie’s ninth home run of the season and as documented at baseballreference.com, the homer was hit to left field where the bullpen was located. Forbes Field was changed in 1947 when the bullpens were moved from foul ground to left field, cutting 30 feet to accommodate Hank Greenberg, who joined Pittsburgh that season. The area was called “Greenberg Gardens”. When Greenberg retired, the area was renamed “Kiner’s Korner”, after Ralph Kiner. Offered is THE baseball that Robinson hit out of Forbes Field on that Sunday in May of 1950. Our consignor obtained this one of a kind historic treasure directly from Tommy Levy, nephew of 1950 Pirates coach Lenny Levy. As told to us by our consignor, Levy informed him that his uncle Lenny was in the Pirates bullpen where Jackie’s home run ball landed. He picked it up and kept it, gifting it to his nephew many years later. ONL Frick baseball with “Jackie Robinson Sunday 5/7/50 May” written in blue marker. The ball shows excellent signs of game-use with dirt spotting. Accompanied by a LOA from Tommy Levy stating how his uncle retrieved the ball in the bull pen after it was hit. The historical significance of this baseball cannot be overstated; truly a once in a lifetime chance to own a documented home run ball from one of the most iconic Hall of Famers in baseball history, Jackie Roosevelt Robinson.