Offered is a silver trophy on a green marble base, presented by the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) to California Angels owner Gene Autry.  The trophy is engraved with the logo of the BBWA in green enamel, presented to “Gene Autry Los Angeles Baseball Civic Leader Award 1962”. The 10 ½ -inch tall silver trophy has a 5-inch circular base. Nicknamed “The Singing Cowboy,” Autrey was a singer, songwriter, actor, musician and rodeo performer who gained fame largely by singing in a crooning style on radio, in films, and on television for more than three decades beginning in the early 1930s.

Autry was the owner of a television station and several radio stations in Southern California, as well as the original owner of the Los Angeles/California/Anaheim Angels Major League Baseball team from 1961 to 1997. From 1934 to 1953, Autry appeared in 93 films, and between 1950 and 1956 hosted “The Gene Autry Show” television series. In 1960, when Major League Baseball announced plans to add an expansion team in Los Angeles, Autry expressed an interest in acquiring the radio broadcast rights to the team's games. Baseball executives were so impressed by his approach that he was persuaded to become the owner of the franchise rather than simply its broadcast partner. The team, initially called the Los Angeles Angels upon its 1961 debut, moved to suburban Anaheim in 1966, and was renamed the California Angels, then the Anaheim Angels from 1997 until 2005, when it became the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Gene Autry died October 2, 1998, three days after his 91st birthday. When the Angels finally won their first (and to date, only) World Series championship in 2002, star outfielder Tim Salmon held Autry's cowboy hat aloft during the on-field celebration, and the public address system played his hit song, “Back in the Saddle Again.” This item comes with a LOA from Jackie Autry.

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