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HSC: 1940's Negro League Goose Tatum Home Run Bas

Currency:USD Category:Sports - Cards & Fan Shop / Sports - Game Used Memorabilia Start Price:1.00 USD Estimated At:1,500.00 - 2,000.00 USD
HSC: 1940's Negro League Goose Tatum Home Run Bas
<B>Circa 1946 Negro League Home Run Baseball Hit by Goose Tatum.</B></I> If you stopped and read this lot title twice just to make certain you saw it correctly, we don't blame you. Two things about it just seem so wrong. First of all, you're thinking, wasn't Tatum a basketball player with the Harlem Globetrotters? And secondly, a home run baseball from the Negro Leagues? Do they really exist? The answer to all of these questions is yes, actually. Tatum did indeed begin his athletic career in baseball's Negro Leagues, once stabbing Hall of Fame Kansas City Monarchs pitcher Hilton Smith with a screwdriver, and starting in the 1947 All-Star Game as a member of the Indianapolis Clowns. And yes, he did send this very ball over the fence at Richmond, Indiana's Municipal Park during an exhibition game shortly after the end of World War II. The details of the event are recounted in a letter from Stan Huntsman, who attended the game as a child and later went on to be the Head Men's Track Coach for the 1988 U.S. Olympics Team. His handwritten note on 1988 U.S. Olympics Team letterhead reads in part, "I retrieved this 'Official American League Baseball' at an exhibition game in Richmond, Indiana (Municipal Park) which included the Indianapolis Clowns Team. The time period would be the summer of 1946 or 1947. As I recall, it was a home run hit by Goose Tatum. The Clowns were playing one of the following teams--Kansas City Monarchs, Birmingham Black Barons or the House of David." The "Negro American League" baseball, a great rarity in its own right, shows definite signs of its wild ride that day, but still displays beautifully, with no notations or damage of any kind. It's quite a find. We certainly can't recall ever having seen another Negro League home run baseball, much less one struck by one of the League's few household names.