October Legends
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 11/2/2013
RHP Burleigh Arland Grimes played 18 seasons in the Major Leagues for seven different teams. He won 20 games a season five times, pitched in four World Series and finished his career with 270 victories. The Veterans Committee elected him to the Hall of Fame in 1964. But Grimes biggest claim to fame was that he was the last pitcher allowed to legally throw the spitball. James Thomas (Cool Papa) Bell was a switch-hitting centerfielder who played for nine Negro League teams between 1922 and 1950. Considered by some to be the fastest man ever to play baseball, Bell was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1974 by the Negro Leagues Committee. This Haiti-manufactured, J. deBeer and Son “Energized Center League Ball” holds the signatures of Grimes and Bell in black ink. Grimes signature is grade 7; Bell’s signature is grade 6. The baseball is blemished, but intact. A PSA/DNA authentication is pending.