This lot is closed. Bidding ended on 6/27/2002.
Although W.C. Fields said he'd rather be in Philadelphia, the Athletics' days there were numbered when 26 members of the 1949 team signed this glowing, lightly toned OAL Harridge ball, a bittersweet memento of a team that once had dominated baseball before falling on hard times. That mixed legacy can be gleaned from the ball, for while the A's 81-73 record that year was one of their better finishes in those dark days, and the team would be sold and moved to Kansas City in 1955, the old glory is eternally etched in the two names on the sweet spot, those of legendary manager/owner Connie Mack and one of the team's greatest players ever, Al Simmons, then a coach. Each Hall of Famer's signature rates a good 8-plus, Mack's in black ink and Simmons in light blue ink. Other names include HOFer Nellie Fox, Wally Moses, Bobby Shantz, Eddie Joust, Ferris Fain, Dick Fowler, Sam Chapman, Elmer Valo, Don White, Joe Coleman, etc. Signatures rate 7s through 9s.