Sept 2011 Pick-up thread

[Scott Garner]

Recently I picked up a trio of very nice items related to Johnny Vander Meer's two consecutive no-hitters in 1938.

The first item is a press photo of Vander Meer at his home in Midland Park, NJ displaying some of the memorabilia related to his ML record two consecutive no-hitters in 1938. The photo shows him holding both of the final game balls from his no-hitter on June 11 and June 15th. The photo caption mentions that Vander Meer is working in the off-season selling cars at a local car dealership.

The second item is letter that Vander Meer sent to a fan thanking him for sending him a nice article from his local hometown newspaper in CT about his historic season. The letter was written in early January, 1939 and is on the letterhead of the Buick car dealership in Patterson, NJ that Vander Meer was working at as described in the photo that accompanies this post. Pretty cool complimentary piece!!

The last item is a vintage signed 1934-1936 Diamond Stars baseball card of HOF catcher Ernie Lombardi who caught both of Vander Meer's consecutive no-hitters in 1938. I bagged this card tonight on eBay. My apologies to any board members that I may have bidded against in winning this. Believe me, I am an absolute lurker in the vintage card market. It just seemed to be a natural fit for the Vander Meer double no-hit collection that I am putting together. Trust me, you won't see me in any more of this type auction anytime soon.