It would take a very unique ballclub to unseat Connie Mack’s 1931 Philadelphia Athletics. The A’s had won back-to-back World Championships in 1929 and 30, and experts said their 1931 club was even better. Waiting to meet them in the World Series was the St. Louis Cardinals. This scrappy bunch of rough and tumble ballplayers were mostly home-grown through General Manager Branch Rickey’s revolutionary farm system. The team featured a nice blend of veterans like the 1931 NL MVP Frankie Frisch as well as .349 hitter Chick Hafey, Sunny Jim Bottomley with a .348 average, and Hall of Fame pitcher Burleigh Grimes – but the Cards secret weapon was the "Wild Horse of the Osage,"  Pepper Martin. This 27-year-old rookie from the Cardinal farm system ran the bases with wild abandon in the series, swiping 5 bases off Hall of Famer Mickey Cochrane and leading all hitters with an even .500 batting average. The Cardinals outlasted the A’s in seven hard-fought games, putting an end to Connie Mack’s juggernaut and firmly establishing the Cardinals as one of the best franchises in the game.

24 members of this 1931 World Champion St. Louis Cardinals ballclub have signed this Spalding National League ball in black fountain pen including Hall of Famers Frankie Frisch, Burleigh Grimes, Jim Bottomley, and Chick Hafey, plus Paul Derringer, Ernie Orsatti, Mike Gonzalez, John Lindsay, Tony Kaufmann, Ray Blades, Buzzy Wares, Syl Johnson, Earl Adams, Andy High, Jimmy Wilson, Joe Benes, Taylor Douhit, Allyn Stout, Bill Hallahan, manager Gabby Street and the man who assembled this extraordinary team: Branch Rickey. The ball shows some staining, but this does not affect the legibility of the majority of signatures. This multi-signed baseball comes with a LOA from JSA (BB34331).

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