Opening Day Auction Closing May 9th
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/10/2015
For baseball history buffs, September 28, 1941 is significant for two reasons: it was the date Ted Williams went 6 for 8 in a double-header to finish the season with .406 and it also the last game pitched by the greatest left-hander of all-time – Lefty Grove. But to one man that last game of the September 28th double-header was important for a whole different reason: it was the greatest game of A’s pitcher Fred Caligiuri’s short career.
That last Sunday double-header against the A’s promised to be a real corker. Boston slugger Ted Williams was trying to end the season above the .400 mark. In the weeks leading up to the final day of the 1941 season, opposing managers repeatedly walked Ted Williams, freezing his average at .39955. Many told Williams to sit out the last two games – .39955 when rounded off was technically .400 – but Ted Williams didn’t want technically – he wanted a full .400. Before the first game A’s manager Connie Mack instructed his starter Dick Fowler to pitch to Williams – don’t throw cream puffs, but challenge him. Mack knew that Williams wanted to hit .400 fairly and he was going to give him the opportunity to do just that. The first game was a slugfest and Williams hit three singles and a home run in the 12-11 Red Sox win.
The 4 for 5 game put Williams solidly above the .400 mark at .404. Again he could have sat out the last game but he wasn’t going to give anyone any reason to think he was coasting. He would play the last game.
With the realization he had achieved something only the greatest hitters in the game had done, Williams sat back in the dugout and watched the intermission ceremony on the field. Red Sox pitcher Lefty Grove was going to start the second game. Rumor had it that this was going to be the last game the Hall of Fame lefthander would pitch before retiring. That it was taking place in Philadelphia was perfect – Grove got his start with Connie Mack’s A’s back in the mid-1920’s and it was there in Shibe Park that he pitched some of the greatest games in baseball history. In tribute to the great ace, Connie Mack declared September 28, 1941 “Lefty Grove Day”.
Opposing Grove that day was 22 year-old rookie Fred Caligiuri. He’d been a late-season call up from Wilmington and had gone 1-2 for the A’s that fall. Hailing from West Hickory, Pennsylvania, Caligiuri had a terrifying brush with death earlier in the season when the brakes failed on his team bus, sending it careening down an embankment and flipping three times. Somehow Caligiuri walked away with only bruises. Now it was the last day of the season and he was in the big leagues, pitching against the greatest left-hander in history.
The rookie retired the first three Red Sox in order to start the game. Then Lefty Grove took the mound to a thunderous applause. If it was a movie, Grove would have pitched one final gem, but it wasn’t to be. The 41 year-old was showing some flab around the waist and his back ached from 20-something years of throwing fastballs. The A’s jumped all over the aging ace and before the inning was over had scored three runs. When the inning finally ended, Red Sox manager Joe Cronin crossed Groves name from the line up card and called for a reliever to warm up. Lefty Grove had pitched his last.
Now Caligiuri faced Ted Williams to start off the 2nd inning. The most dangerous hitting in the game promptly smacked a single but when the inning ended he was still stuck on first base. Caliguiri held the Red Sox scoreless for two more frames when he again faced Williams. This time he slashed a long line drive that broke a public address speaker in center field then dropped back into play for a single. The rookie A’s pitcher recovered and again Williams was left stranded when the inning ended. Meanwhile the A’s bats steadily increased their lead and the score was 6-zip when Caligiuri faced Williams again in the 7th. After giving up two hits to the Boston slugger, this time Caligiuri got him to fly out. It didn’t matter, Williams had finished the season at .406. Though all eyes were on Williams and Grove, this was Fred Caligiuri’s game. The rookie had quietly posted 0’s frame after frame, holding the powerful Red Sox bats to just 5 hits – two of those to the AL’s batting champ. He had his shutout spoiled when Frankie Pytlack hit a solo homer in the 8th, but when the game was called because of darkness before the 9th inning began, it was Fred Caligiuri who came out of the dugout for a curtain call as 10,268 fans roared.
This was his greatest game in his baseball career. Connie Mack tabbed Caligiuri as one of his starters for the 1942 season but he failed to win a game in 13 tries he was sent back to the minors. World War II intervened and by the time Caligiuri got out of the service he was too old to restart a career. His baseball days were over. But at least he had one solid artifact from the finest game he ever pitched: this extraordinary ball was saved by Fred Caligiuri after that September 28 game. In blue pen Caligiuri proudly inscribed this game ball with a complete description of what transpired that Sunday: “GAME BALL 9-28-1941 I BEAT LEFTY GROVE IN HIS FINAL GAME. GAME 2 OF DOUBLEHEADER WILLIAMS HIT 406.". The winning pitcher then added his signature to the ball’s sweet spot to complete its provenance.
The ball exhibits tremendous game use. The leather is covered with turf marks and scuffs plus seventy-plus years of aging. Since this ball is an unbelievably rare piece of baseball history we went out of our way to verify the that this ball was indeed original. On close examination the original Reach stamping has been worn off and obscured by the wear. We next examined this ball under black light but we failed to find the remains of the Spalding stamping. When we contacted Troy Kinunen at MEARS who suggested we find a Reach Official American League ball from the same period, weight it and count the stitches, then compare it to the ball in question. We used a 1942-manufactured Reach Official American League ball on which the 1943 Yankees team had signed. Both balls weighed 142 grams and contained 216 stitches.
We can’t overstate the historical significance of this ball. No ballplayer was equaled or surpassed Williams’ .406 since 1941 and the story surrounding his willingness to put his .35599 on the line that day has become baseball lore. The added significance of it also being the last game pitched by Lefty Grove pushes the limits on the historical value of this Hall of Fame-worthy ball. Comes with full Letter of Authenticity from JSA which confirms not only the signature of Fred Caligiuri, but also confirms the inscription was written by him.