My Vintage Minneapolis Millers & St. Paul Saints Collection

[Mark]

Originally Posted by Tay1038

c.1949 Monte Irvin Game-Used Bat (Charlie Gehringer Professional Model)

Tremendously excited to add this ultra-scarce Monte Irvin game used bat to my 1955 Minneapolis Millers Junior World Series Champions game-used bat collection. Like many Negro Leaguers of his era, Irvin did not have a model bat of his own and preferred using Gehringer model G7 bats. In fact, as indicated by Irvin and stated in the PSA letter, Monte and Gehringer were good and Charlie ordered a few bats for him. The bat comes with rock-solid provenance and was accompanied with a letter signed by Irvin regarding the provenance of the bat!

Monte Irvin was with the New York Giants in 1955 when the Giants came to Minneapolis for an exhibition game. When the Giants left town after the game, they took with them Minneapolis second baseman Wayne Terwilliger and left behind Irvin for the Millers. Monte hit .352 with 14 home runs in his half-season with Minneapolis, helping the Millers to their very first Junior World Series championship!

Congratulations! That is one terrific bat. There's not a collection in the country that wouldn't benefit from having that bat in it, but it's found a deserving home in yours.

[Tay1038]

1932 Minneapolis Milllers v. Indianapolis Indians Baseball Program (Scored) ~ July 16, 1932 - Joe Hauser 29th Home Run of the Season!

Tough program year to find. The program has seen better days, but fun addition nonetheless. Millers Win, defeat Indians 7-4.

WP-Vandenberg. Hauser (29), Harris, and Smith homer. 9th straight win for the Millers.

[Tay1038]

1933 Minneapolis Millers v. Kansas City Blues Program (Scored) from September 9th when Joe Hauser Hit Historic HR #68 & HR #69 - Single Season Professional HR Record


I finally set some time aside to research my Millers programs and ran across my 1933. I previously noticed that Hauser hit a couple home runs that game and knew it was from historic season, but after some additional research came to find out that those two homers were his final two (HR #68 & #69) of the season thus making this program even more historic and important than I was anticipating! I suddenly had that same feeling when you find money in a pair of jeans or coat you haven’t worn for awhile.

[Tay1038]

1932 Worch Cigar (Minneapolis Millers) Set & Vintage 5 Cent Worch Cigar Cedar Wood Box and Label

[Duluth Eskimo]

Very nice

[Tay1038]

1956 Minneapolis Millers vs. New York Giants Program & Ticket, and 1959 Minneapolis Millers v. AA All-Stars Program & Ticket (Fifth and final hosted All-Star game by Millers, and first at Met Stadium)

On June 7, 1956 the Millers played the New York Giants in an Exhibition Game held at the NEW Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minn. Former Miller alumni, Willie Mays of the Giants hits 2 home runs, 1 estimated at 450 feet, before 21,832 fans.

[Tay1038]

1921 Bill McKechnie Game Used Bat (Ty Lober Professional Model) – Hall of Fame

This bat ranks right up there with my Monte Irvin and Gavvy Cravath as one of the scarcest game-used bats in my collection today. For your viewing is a game-used bat from Hall of Fame manager Bill McKechnie. Originally issued to Ty Lober, who spent his 1921 season with the Milwaukee Brewers of the American Association, the bat was used by McKechnie in 1921, his only season with the Minneapolis Millers. The bat has been side written, "39 ½ Wm. McKechnie 8-15-21 Minneapolis BBC” indicting that Hall of Fame Pirates & Reds manager Bill McKechnie came into possession of the bat at some point during the 1921 season (also in the American Association) and sent back to Hillerich & Bradsby, likely to have bats made for himself in the same style.

In 1921, Bill MeKechnie finished his playing career at third base for Minneapolis. He had only a .234 lifetime average in the major leagues but hit .321 for the Millers with 8 HRs and 65 RBI’s. Following his playing days, McKechnie compiled a long and successful record as a manager, winning pennants with three different National League (St. Louis, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati) earning himself a spot in the Hall of Fame in 1961. McKechnie had also played for St. Paul in 1912 and is the only Hall of Famer to have played for both the Millers and Saints.

Special thank you to fellow N54 member for selling this one to me! I can't imagine there is another McKechnie gamer out there.