Before Jackie Robinson made his historic Major League debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947, Branch Rickey signed Robinson in 1946 and assigned him to the highest level minor league (AAA) team, the Montreal Royals. This was done to allow Robinson a chance to get acclimated to not only the level of baseball, but the social aspect as well.

     Offered is this very rare Official International League baseball that has been signed by 24 members of the 1946 Montreal Royals, who had a league best 100-54 record and won the Governor's Cup championship. Only a handful of these 1946 Montreal Royals team signed baseballs are in existence and all of the signatures have been signed with a steel-tipped fountain pen. Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson’s signature appears on the north panel with the signatures of Bob Fontain, Charles Ferrell, Glen Moulder, Steve Nagy and Marv Rackley. Red Durrett and Manager Clay Hopper signed their names on the sweet spot. The south panel has the signatures of Les Burge, Al Campanis, Dixie Howell, Chet Ross, Paul Schoendienst, John “Spider” Jorgensen and Earl Naylor.

     The east panel has the signatures of Curt Davis, John Gabbard, Ben Cardoni and Jean-Pierre Roy, while the west panel has the autographs of Chet Kehn, Cy Buker, Lew Riggs, Tommy Tatum and the clubhouse signature of Herman Franks. This baseball has a coat of shellack and also displays toning. The signatures are in good condition and this multi-signed baseball comes with a full LOA from JSA (B34733).