Autographs of Baseball Players, Yankee Stadium 1931

Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York: np. first edition. card wrappers. SIGNED BY BABE RUTH, LOU GEHRIG, CHARLIE GEHRINGER, EARLE COMBS, TONY LAZZERI, JOE MCCARTHY, LEFTY GOMEZ, ET AL.

Autograph book lovingly assembled by a young baseball fan in 1931 at Yankee Stadium, with over 40 autographs of players, including Ruth and Gehrig and eight other members of the Baseball Hall of Fame. ––––––––––

Imagine being a kid in 1931 and you’re a baseball fan. This was during the glory days of baseball, when players were national heroes, and big games were national news. You also happen to live in New York, the center of the baseball universe, with a heated rivalry between three local teams every year. If you were lucky enough to go to a few games, perhaps you could get close to one of your heroes, maybe even get an autograph.

Young Seymour Kessler did much better than “get an autograph” – he carried a little booklet with him to games at Yankee Stadium in 1931 and collected over forty autographs of players, including the biggest stars of the day – Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig – along with eight other Hall-of-Famers including Charlie Gehringer, Lefty Gomez, Earle Combs, Tony Lazzeri, and others. He carefully and lovingly curated his autograph collection, pasting pictures from newspapers beneath the signatures (whenever he could find them) and writing in clean block letters the position and team of the player.

He titled his booklet on the cover “Autographs of Baseball Players / Yankee Stadium / 1931 / Property of Seymour Kessler” and on the first page added, with great care to make the writing neat:

“An autograph collection of American League Baseball Players. The autographs were obtained during the 1931 season at the Yankee Stadium, The Bronx, New York. Property of Seymour Kessler. 1858 West 5th Street Brooklyn, New York.”

It’s a remarkable collection of names and autographs – a snapshot of many of the stars of the American League – and so lovingly curated by Kessler. He brings us right back to being a kid and a baseball fan, sharing the magic of meeting your heroes.

1931, by the way, wasn’t all wonderful for young Seymour. The Yankees only finished in second place, and it must have been challenging for him living in Brooklyn and being a Yankees fan (although in 1931 the Brooklyn team was called “The Robins”, only becoming the Dodgers in 1932).

Kessler was able to find newspaper pictures of many of the players, but not all of them. Generally, if they were minor players or out-of-town players he had difficulty finding pictures.

The booklet contains the autographs of:

The Baseball Hall-of-Famers:

–Babe Ruth

–Lou Gehrig

–Charlie Gehringer (Tigers Hall-of-Fame Second Baseman)

–Earle Combs (Yankees Hall-of-Fame centerfielder)

–Tony Lazzeri (Yankees Hall-of Fame Second Baseman)

–Joe McCarthy (Yankees Hall-of-Fame Manager)

–Vernon “Lefty” Gomez (Yankees Hall-of-Fame Pitcher)

–Herb Pennock (Yankees Hall-of-Fame Pitche
r)
–Joe Sewell (Yankees and Cleveland Hall-of Fame shortstop and third baseman, famous for his ridiculously few times striking out)

–Charles “Red” Ruffing (Yankees Hall-of-Fame pitcher)


as well as:

–Ken Strong (NFL Hall-of-Famer, College Football Hall of Fame, baseball minor leaguer)

–Lyn Lary (Yankees Shortstop)

–Lou McEvoy (Yankees Pitcher, no picture, signed on two pages)

–Luke Sewell (Cleveland Catcher)

–Henry “Hank” Johnson (Yankees Pitcher)

–George Pipgrass (Yankees Pitcher)

–Arndt Jorgens (Yankees Catcher)

–Jim Weaver (Yankees Pitcher)

–Sam Byrd (Yankees Outfielder)

–Gordon “Dusty” Rhodes (Yankees Pitcher)

–Art Fletcher (Yankees Coach and Former Shortstop)

–Lu Blue (White Sox First Baseman)
–Billy Sullivan (White Sox)

–Art Herring (Tigers Pitcher)

–Bob Kline (Red Sox Pitcher, no picture)

–Earl Webb (Red Sox Outfielder, no picture)

–Hal Rhyne (Red Sox Shortstop, no picture)

–Joe Boley (Athletics, Shortstop, no picture)

–Eddie Bennett (Yankees Mascot, picture and obituary)

–Ben Chapman (Yankees Outfielder)

–Roy Sherid (Yankees Pitcher, no picture)

–Jimmie Reese (Yankees Second Baseman, no picture)

–Red Rolfe (Yankees Infielder)

–Charlie Sullivan (Tigers Pitcher, no picture)

–Bob Fothergill (Tigers Left Fielder, no picture)

–Butch Henline (White Sox Catcher, no picture)

–Bennie Tate (White Sox catcher, no picture)

–John Kerr (White Sox Second Baseman, no picture)

–Roy Johnson (Tigers Outfielder, no picture)

–Lin Storti (St. Louis Browns, no picture)

–John Stone (Tigers Outfielder, no picture)

–Hank Garrity (White Sox Catcher, no picture)

–Bill Norman [?] (White Sox Outfielder, no picture)

–Al Van Camp (Red Sox Outfielder, no picture)

–Tom Oliver (Red Sox Outfielder, no picture)

Size: approx. 3.5 x 5.75 inches (closed). Signatures in pencil. Original card wrappers; housed in custom box. Only minor general wear; overall in a remarkable state of preservation.