January Pickups

[Scott Garner]

Here is a neat recent pickup.
This is a game ball from the doubleheader played on 9/28/1951 at NYY.

In the first game of the D/H, Yankee's hurler "Superchief" Allie Reynolds pitched his way into the record books by throwing his second career no-hitter against the Boston Red Sox. At this point in history, only Johnny Vander Meer had accomplished this feat. 64 years later there still are only 6 pitchers in major league history to complete this feat: Vandy, Allie Reynolds, Virgil Trucks, Nolan Ryan, Roy Halladay and Max Scherzer.

This is actually a foul ball that was retrieved by a fan in the 2nd game of the 9/28/51 D/H off the bat of the visiting Red Sox's Charlie Maxwell. Of note, in the second game, Yankee's Joe DiMaggio homered for the final time in his HOF career with the Bronx Bombers.The patron, sensing the history of the D/H, had Allie Reynolds sign the ball and he added the following additional notations to complete the provenance for the ball.
I couldn't resist the temptation to add this ball to my no-hit pitcher collection.
While the ball was not retrieved from the actual no-hit game, it's definitely about as close as you could get for a vintage game ball.

Extra Innings:
Allie Reynolds pitched 13 total seasons for the Cleveland Indians and NY Yankees. He had a win loss record of 182-107 and career ERA of 3.30.
During his 9 year run with the Yankees he was absolute money.
In the World Series he was 7-2 in the games that he got a decision in the 15 games that he appeared in. In the 1949 WS he had an ERA of 0.00; in 1950 he had a WS ERA of 0.79.
Although he was never inducted into the HOF he was a fan favorite, including many that lobbied hard for his inclusion into the HOF.