This lot is closed. Bidding ended on 5/11/2001.
This extremely rare catcher's mitt was treasured by Hall of Famer Jimmie Foxx, who while primarily a first baseman throughout his 20-year, three-time MVP and Hall of Fame career, did catch from time to time, making this beauty all the more desirable. Foxx is recalled now as a powerful slugger who hit 534 homers, good for 10th place on the all-time list. "Double X" sent one completely out of Chicago's Comiskey Park. He hit another so hard that it broke a seat in the Yankee Stadium upper deck. Yet this mitt may have been as well-tended and as sentimental a possession as any of his bats, since Foxx broke into baseball as a catcher in 1925 on Connie Mack's Philadelphia A's. While he was switched to first base because Mickey Cochrane had the catching job, he was always ready to don the tools of ignorance again. The name "J. Foxx" is punchholded into the back hand strap of the glove, which is amazingly intact while still showing excellent game use and brims with character. A few battle scars couldn't hold back Jimmie Foxx, and likewise the glove is as sturdy and reliable as it was back in the Roaring Twenties, telling now of the profound history its owner created. The glove was originally from the Max Carey estate and comes with a copy of a letter from Max Carey Jr.