Game Used Baseballs

[Shoeless Moe]

I found this on Ebay for $89, here is the write-up and sale when I consigned it to Heritage Auctions (better pix of it there too):

1917 World Series Game Used Baseball--The Final Out? Ancient sphere was discovered at an estate auction near York, Pennsylvania, not far from the town of Reading where New York Giants player Lew McCarty lived and died. This fact becomes particularly intriguing when we consider that his name is penned on the opposing sweet spot from the bolder vintage application of the words "World's Series Giants & White Sox." Unfortunately the name is all we are able to make out on this area of the ball, but it's clearly a period notation, which leads us to consider McCarty's role in that early Fall Classic. Intriguingly, we find that, with two out in the bottom of ninth inning of the sixth and final game, McCarty was tapped to pinch hit for Giants pitcher Pol Perritt, grounding out to second to end the Series and establish "Shoeless Joe" Jackson's White Sox as World Champions.

While we cannot definitively establish this as the last ball of that Series, the tradition of saving Championship-clinching balls was already well established at this juncture of baseball history, and this manner of notation is consistent with known examples from other years. Certainly it is at the very least a game used ball from that famous World Series, and the final out would seem to be the only incident from that October that would merit a mention of McCarty. Given the fact that the ball was discovered in McCarty's backyard, the suggestion that he might have picked it up after the out was recorded is also a reasonable speculation. The ball exhibits heavy wear, clearly dating to both before and after the ancient notations, and while the ball's stamping has been lost to the ages, the black and red stitching is correct for period ONL horsehide. A thrilling relic from the White Sox last Championship of the twentieth century.

Sold at Heritage for $2031.50

https://sports.ha.com/itm/baseball/1...ription-071515