Jackie Robinson's Last Home Run Ball

[Lab-Kid]

Originally Posted by daves_resale_shop

for what its worth, stories can change throughout the years... do you think that this perhaps could have been a fould ball hit by jackie while barnstorming in Japan? I would think that if the owner (your dad) caught a home run ball from Jackie Robinson (nevermind any other player) he would have inscribed the ball as a "home run ball" hit by jackie robinson... insteadhe just inscribes it as a ball "hit" by jackie...

the story of his 6'2" frame overpowering the gent in front of him to catch it denotes that the ball was out of play but not necessarilly a homer... this could potentially correspond with the box score noting no homers...

either way an awesome ball and wonderful piece of history...

congrats & please keep it away from your dog!
-Dave

It is certainly possible that the story is not as I remember it. I was probably only about eight when he told me and I certainly don't remember every detail. When I asked my mother, I intentionally asked her what she recalled about it (without first telling her my recollection) since I didn't want to influence her response. Her memories are in line with mine, but then again she wasn't clear on all the details, and at 77 she would be the first to admit that her memory isn't what it was. The game summary does specifically say that there were four home runs hit that game and one was by Jackie Robinson. But that clearly doesn't prove anything.

I've tried to put myself in my father's position back then, and having thought it through I'm not surprised there isn't more details. First of all, my father wasn't a sentimental guy who saved anything, in fact this ball might be the only thing from his youth that he did save. Besides his discharge papers and a duffel bag, he didn't save anything else from his time in the Army. I'm sure that as a 20 year old private in the Army he went back to his barracks and scribbled the inscription on the ball and threw it in his foot locker as a nice momento from his time in Japan. Second, sports memorabilia collection didn't have the same sophistication that it has today. This ball is from an exhibition game being played against All-Stars from a foreign country at a time when it hadn't been announced that Jackie Robinson was retiring so nobody knew this was the second to the last game he ever played. Who would really place any significance on the game at the time? Keep in mind, this game was played only 11 years after we dropped two atomic bombs on them and tensions in the Koreas were still very high.

Like I said originally, I doubt that I could ever prove this, but I appreciate the thoughts offered so far. I did go back and look at archived Pacific editions of Stars and Stripes and they do have articles on the game, but not surprisingly no details that would be of help to me.

Thanks again for the help. Please share any other ideas you may have. And I will put it someplace out of the reach of my dog!