It wasn’t until the 1920’s that signed team balls began to be sought after by collectors, so this one, signed by the Philadelphia Athletics in 1913 is a real head-turner. Add in that this is Connie Mack’s ballclub that won the 1913 World Series and boasted the best pitcher in the game, Eddie Plank, and you have a very extraordinary piece of baseball history.

Mack’s 1913 squad was the last of what was the first great baseball dynasty. This A’s team won the World Championships in 1910, 1911 and 1913 before losing to the Miracle Boston Braves in 1914. This 1913 squad would meet the New York Giants in the series, the highlight coming in the deciding Game 5 when Eddie Plank bested Christy Mathewson, his old college rival, for the World Championship. At some point during the 1913 season a forward-thinking fan had the bulk of the A’s team sign this ball. The ball itself a Reach Official American League model with its trademark red and blue stitching. The stamping on the ball is in wonderful shape and the surface is slightly toned and scuffed, but still acts as a bright surface on which the champion A’s signatures pop.

Heading up the players on the ball is their ace, Gettysburg Eddie Plank. The southpaw won 18 games that year and posted a stingy 2.60 ERA as the A’s won the first of two back-to-back pennants. Plank has signed the ball in black fountain pen along with fellow Hall of Famers Home Run Baker and Chief Bender, plus teammates Boardwalk Brown, Jack Lapp, Ensign Cottrell, Jimmy Walsh, Eddie Murphy, Amos Strunk and several others. The signatures may have slightly flaked off in some places but considering this is one of the earliest World Champion signed balls in existence, its condition is quite extraordinary. The ball comes with a LOA from JSA (Y43588) for the signatures.

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