When considering long-suffering baseball fans, think kindly of the poor souls who occupied the Philadelphia region during the 1930s-1940s. The "Great Depression", and the WWII era were tough on everybody, but alas for the denizens of the "City of Brotherly Love", who found little in the way of relief at their two MLB ballparks. Connie Mack's A' were on top of the baseball world from 1929-1931, however from 1935-1950, they finished dead last 10 times. Stretching back even further, their NL counterparts the Phillies, finished last or next to last 24 times during the period 1918-1949, managing winning records in 1932 and 1949 only.



When the youth movement known as the "Whiz Kids" came along in 1950, it was like a big blast of minty fresh air for the Philly faithful. Hall of Famers Robin Roberts and Richie Ashburn led a talented squad of young players down to the wire, winning the NL pennant in the last game of the season, which was a 10-inning contest against the Brooklyn Dodgers.



A fabulous souvenir of this Phillies exciting 1950 campaign surfaces, with this team-signed World Series program. Reported as having been obtained directly from pitcher Ken Heintzelman, this 1950 World Series program is the Phillies version, signed by all (31) players and coaches pictured throughout. This group of signers includes all (26) players who appeared in more than 4 games during the 1950 season, along with the manager, and four coaches, making this team-signed program a great representative of the 1950 NL champs. The program rates as (VG+) with deference to the centerfold being detached but present, and the scoring grids are unused.



Located next to or on corresponding photos of the subjects, the (31) autographs range ("6" to "9") in potency noted. Key signers are: Eddie Waitkus (d.1972), Willie Jones (d.1983), Jim Konstanty (d.1976), Benny Bengough (coach, d.1968), "Cy" Perkins (coach, d.1963), Richie Ashburn (HOF, d.1997), and Robin Roberts (HOF, d.2010). The balance of signers are: Eddie Sawyer (manager), "Dusty" Cooke (coach), Jimmy Bloodworth, "Putsy" Caballero, Milo Candini, "Bubba" Church, "Blix" Donnelly, Del Ennis, Mike Goliat, "Granny" Hamner, Ken Heintzelman, Stan Hollmig, Ken Johnson, Stan Lopata, Jack Mayo, Russ Meyer, Bob Miller, Andy Seminick, Bill Nicholson, Ken Silvestri, Curt Simmons (partially enhanced), Dick Sisler, Dick Whitman, and Robert McDonnell (coach). Auction LOA from James Spence/JSA.

Opening Bid $200.