This OAL (Johnson) ball has been covered with 28 signatures penned by members of the 1926 New York Yankees squad. An inconspicuous handwritten dating of "1926" appears upon one side panel, but such a notation was hardly necessary as the presence of Roy Carlyle's autograph firmly places the ball's signing to late in that season. (Carlyle was picked up in trade late in the year before being sent back to the minors at season's end.) The 1926 Yankees were the first successful "Murderer's Row" team and came within a whisker of winning the World Series. After capturing the American League pennant, the Yankees went on to meet the St. Louis Cardinals in the Series. It went to a seventh game, and the Yankees lost in the ninth inning with Lou Gehrig representing the winning run at the plate with two out and Babe Ruth being thrown out trying to steal. Virtually the same lineup would take the world title the next two seasons. This ball's collection of fountain pen autographs projects nicely (a few, understandably, being a bit light), yet they are all discernible. The ball itself shows minimal scuffing, strong stampings, and light-to-moderate toning from a thin protective coating of clear shellac. The red-and-blue-stitched sphere carries the hallmark scripting of Babe Ruth (a solo sweetspot signature that demonstrates Ruth's period use of quotation marks around his nickname). Other significant signers include Lou Gehrig, Waite Hoyt , Tony Lazzeri,  Herb Pennock , Earle Combs  and the virtually impossible Urban Shocker. Additional content: Adams, Beall, Bengough, Braxton, Carlyle, Collins,  Dugan, Gazella, Jones,  Koenig, McQuaid, Merkle (coach), Meusel, O'Leary (coach) Paschal, Reuther, Severeid, Shawkey, Skiff, Thomas and Ward. Comes with full LOA from JSA.

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