Pre-1950 Facsimile Signed Balls
 

With prices on most of the cards I need through the roof these days, I decided to focus for a while on something new and relatively affordable - facsimile signed Yankee baseballs.

The oldest one I have been able to locate is 1951. It's pretty cool really, it has the Mantle rookie signature and Joe DiMaggio.

My question is, has anyone ever seen a pre-1951 ball? How about a pre-war ball of the Yankees or any team?

Interestingly, a Net54 member informed me he has a Yankee facsimile ball that he bought at a Cleveland game in the 1950's, so apparently they were not only sold at Yankee Stadium. I have one from the same year but his ball had a signature that mine didn't so perhaps there were multiple manufacturers.

I purchased a ball that is in a box that may or may not be the original box. I'm looking for photos of souvenir stands at Yankee Stadium from the 1950s to try and see how they were packaged.

Anyway, it's been a fun diversion. It's often a challenge to figure out which year they are from. I welcome any information anyone has about these souvenir balls.

Thank you!