Prev Next

Lot # 1032: Bobby Thomson & Monte Irvin "Most Thrilling Experience" Signed Handwritten Letter Pair with "Shot Heard 'Round the World" & 1951 World Series Content

Starting Bid:

$150

Bids:

(Bid History)

Current Bid

$
High Bidder Out Bid
Total Bid Cost
Next Bid $
Buyer's Premium $
Sales Tax (estimated) $
Shipping Fee (estimated) $
Total Cost $ *

* Shipping and sales tax calculations are 'best guess' estimates based on your current shipping address. Final calculations may vary at billing.

Login to place a bid

Description

Over several decades, Mr. Oliver Compton of Bridgewater, New Jersey sent letters to multiple Major League players asking them to relate their most thrilling experience in baseball. This is just one of the many offered in this auction. Meticulously collected over many decades, the letters average Excellent condition or better.

 

These two letters from Bobby Thomson and Monte Irvin both relate exciting moments from the Giants 1951 season including Thomson's “Shot Heard Round the World.”

Bobby Thomson signed handwritten letter on the back of Mr. Compton’s request letter on 10 ½ x 7 blank stationery dated February 13, 1974. Thomson’s reply on the back is dated 2/18/74 and he writes, “would have to be, as you probably guessed, the 1951 homer against the Dodgers. Few players in the history of baseball have ever had the opportunity to come to bat in the last inning of the season with the pennant on the line. The Good Lord must have been in my corner that day. I'll take credit for concentrating hard and being determined. And of course I was responsible for swinging the bat. But ‘He’ did the rest.”

Signed “Sincerely Bobby Thomson” (“9-10”) in blue ballpoint.

 

Monte Irvin signed 2-page handwritten letter on 8x10 lined paper dated Nov. 15, 1992. The Hall of Famer writes in detail about the lead up to his steal of home in the 1951 World Series when third base coach Leo Durocher said, “get a big lead and go on the next pitch” his dash to the plate, “He missed me by inches. When the umpire yelled safe, Yogi (Berra) hollered no, no. And I said yes, yes. Yogi then said “How do you know?” I said you'll see it tomorrow in the News and Mirror. Sure enough, the sequence of the steal was front page news showing that I had clearly done it. It was the first time it had happened in a World Series game in 30 years. Even now I get a thrill up and down my spine when I think about it.”

Signed “Kindest regards, Monte Irvin” (“9-10”) in black pen.

Auction LOA from James Spence/JSA.