Opening Day Auction 2014
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 4/26/2014
This is baseball history. Regardless of the fact that it being the only known game used L.A. Dodger Sandy Koufax cap in existence, if you were to ask for one gamer from the Dodgers superstar, odds are this would be it. Dating from Koufax' penultimate season, 1965, this cap comes with a rock-solid provenance as well: In the waning days of the summer of '65, L.A. Angels batboy Bob Case (the two teams shared Dodger Stadium at the time) obtained this cap from the Dodgers ace himself. "Right out of his locker" states Case in the accompanying letter of provenance. Case kept the cap for over a decade before he traded it to a collector. Case thought so much of the cap that upon the collector's death he reacquired his former prized artifact. Provenance doesn't get any better than that. The year Case obtained this cap Sandy won the pitcher's Triple Crown for the second time with 26 wins, a 2.04 ERA and a record-breaking 382 strikeouts. He also tossed a perfect game - the first by a lefty since the 1880's, and won two games in the World Series including the deciding game. Being named the Series MVP was the icing on one heck of a year. And all through it, Sandy was in constant pain, suffering from severe hemorrhaging and arthritis that threatened to render the wing completely useless. Still, Koufax soldiered on and turned in one more season for the ages before leaving the game after the '66 World Series. It's awe-inspiring to think that the greatest hurler in Dodgers history racked up one of the best single seasons by a pitcher in the history of the game, all the while wearing this very cap.
The timeless Dodgers' cap is still bright Dodgers Blue and the snow white intertwined "LA" intact. As you'd expect from a cap worn by the best pitcher of 1965, it shows nice game use with expected perspiration stains and appropriate buckling to the front of the leather sweatband. The McAuliffe label is still sewn inside the cap as well as Pro KM and size 7 1/8 stamped into its band. The ace's famous number "32" is handwritten on the underneath the brim. Letter of Authenticity from MEARS. Also included it the signed and notarized letter from former batboy Bob Case and Letter of Opinion from SCD. As stated before, this is the only known authentic game used L.A. Dodgers Sandy Koufax cap in existence. That it dates from 1965 makes it all the more extraordinary - this isn't a baseball cap - it's a genuine piece of baseball history.