December Pickups

[Scott Garner]

OK, I'm jumping the gun a bit, but it's the last day in November & I thought I would kick off the December thread.
This post could be either on the memorabilia or autograph side, so I made a corporate decision to put it over here.
I recently picked up a neat 1967 signed piece that I think is pretty cool.

Two avid baseball fans decided to catch several baseball games in NY and Pittsburgh on a road trip during the week of July 4th.
Four games in 5 days- sounds like fun!
They started off the trip in NY and were fortunate enough to catch HOF'er Tom Seaver in his rookie season, who pitched on Monday, July 3rd and got his 7th career win.
"Tom Terrific" went on to win the 1967 Rookie of the Year Award.

While visiting NYC to attend this game, the fans both apparently stayed at The Hotel Manhattan.
As luck would have it, they must have run into both HOF Sandy Koufax and baseball broadcaster Bob Murphy at the hotel, because they managed to have both of them sign their hotel luggage tag.
Their baseball tickets and signed Hotel Manhattan luggage tag help tell an interesting story, a mini time capsule of sorts...

In 1967, Sandy Koufax signed a 10-year contract with NBC for US$1 million ($7,300,000 today) to be a broadcaster on the Saturday Game of the Week (source: Wikipedia).
NBC's headquarters is NYC, not far from Hotel Manhattan, and it's very possible that Koufax was in town discussing or signing this contract.

Covering this Mets game was Bob Murphy, the main broadcasting voice of the Mets beginning in 1962, their inaugural season. Bob Murphy had an outstanding broadcasting career that spanned over 50 years with the Mets and was a recipient of the prestigious Ford C. Frick Award in 1994 by the Hall of Fame. He also was inducted into the Mets HOF in 1984.