"Redbirds" of long ago come home to roost, with these (2) team-signed baseballs. These vintage period signed balls represent a couple of excellent St. Louis Cardinals teams, with the 1944 World Series champions, and the 1949 squad that finished second with 96 wins, just 1 game behind the Brooklyn Dodgers.



Featured are:



1944 St. Louis Cardinals (25) autographs range ("5" to "7") on an ONL/Frick baseball, with:



Sweet spot: Billy Southworth (manager, d.1969) and Mort Cooper (d.1958);



North panel: Ted Wilks, Harry Brecheen, Dan Litwhiler, Johnny Hopp, "Blix" Donnelly (d.1976), Ken O'Dea and Walker Cooper;



South panel: Marty Marion, "Pepper" Martin (d.1965), Debs Garms. Bob Keely, "Bud" Byerly, Emil Verban and Max Lanier;



East panel: Mike Gonzalez (coach, d.1977), Stan Musial (HOF), Fred Schmidt, Ray Sanders, "Buzzy" Wares (coach, d.1964) and Bill Trotter;



West panel: "Whitey" Kurowski, Augie Bergamo (d.1974) and George Fallon.



1949 St. Louis Cardinals (30) autographs average ("7-8") on an ONL/Frick baseball, with:



Sweet spot: Enos Slaughter (HOF) and Marty Marion;



North panel: Eddie Dyer (manager, d.1964), "Nippy" Jones, George Munger, Fred Martin (d.1979), Ted Wilks, Bill Reeder, "Rocky" Nelson and Del Rice;



South panel: Al Brazle (d.1973), Del Wilber, Harry Brecheen, Lou Klein (d.1976), Ed Kazak and Chuck Diering;



East panel: Max Lanier, Solly Hemus, Stan Musial (HOF), "Whitey" Kurowski and Terry Moore (coach);



West panel: "Red" Schoendienst (HOF), Howie Pollet (d.1974), undetermined, Tony Kaufmann (coach), Joe Garagiola, Jerry Staley, Hal Rice and Ron Northey (d.1971);



Reverse sweet spot: Bill Baker.



Auction LOA from James Spence/JSA. Opening Bid $200.