For only the second time since its inception in 1933, the National League defeated the American League, 4-1. The underdog victory was due in large part to the NL’s starter, Johnny Vander Meer. The Reds’ flamethrower had recently made baseball history by tossing back-to-back no-hitters and was the most dominant pitcher in either league at the All-Star break. The game was held in Vander Meer’s ballpark, Crosley Field, and 27,000 fans watched him shut out the big bats of the American League for the first three frames, giving up just a single hit. Bill Dickey and Charlie Gehringer were the AL’s hitting stars with a double each and Mel Ott recorded a triple. Cardinals’ star Joe Medwick opened the scorebook with a single that enabled Stan Hack to score all the way from first and Chicago’s Bill Lee duplicated Vander Meer’s performance by shutting out the AL for three innings.

This offered Spalding Official National League Ford C. Frick ball has been signed by 12 of the All-Stars including Hall of Famers Joe Medwick, Charlie Gehringer, Joe Cronin, Mel Ott, Red Ruffing, Bill Dickey and Jimmie Foxx. The star of the game and winning pitcher Johnny Vander Meer has signed, along with Stan Hack and Bill Lee of the 1938 NL pennant winning Cubs. In addition, the presidents of both leagues, Ford Frick and William Harridge have each signed the sweet spot, making a total of nine Hall of Famers on this ball. The ball shows overall toning from age with a coat of vintage shellac applied to protect the signatures. The signatures range from strong on the Foxx, Medwick and Gehringer to lighter for the Dickey and Ruffing. The shellac was flacked off around the “D” in Dickey’s signature and the “ee” in Bill Lee’s name has a slight smudge. The players who have signed this ball represent the key participants of a memorable All-Star Game. The ball comes with an LOA from PSA/DNA (T01360) for the signatures.

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