Dodgers, Giants Baseballs

To Highlight Weiss Sale

2col Dodgers

A birthday present from the summer of 1953 of a team New York Dodgers autographed baseball will be among Sunday’s offerings in the auction.

3col Giants

An autographed team New York Giants baseball will cross the block.

By Henry I. Kurtz

OCEANSIDE, N.Y. — On June 10, a 1953 Brooklyn Dodger autographed team baseball with many original signature, and a New York Giants baseball team ball from the same period will be offered for sale at Philip Weiss Auctions. There is an interesting story behind those two baseballs, which I know only too well, as I have had them in my possession for more than 50 years.

Let’s turn back the clock to the glory years of New York baseball. I grew up in the shadow of Ebbetts Field, in an apartment building situated one block away from the Bedford Avenue entrance to the bleachers. Directly opposite the bleacher entrance was Pete’s Luncheonette, a local hangout.

A Dodger icon named Hilda Chester — the gal with the cow bell, which she rang loudly throughout home games — held an informal coffee klatch at Pete’s almost every game day. Included were several neighborhood ladies. One of these was my mother, who had the Brooklyn equivalent of afternoon tea (coffee and an English muffin) most afternoons. Hilda and my mother became friends and I would occasionally join the group to hear Hilda tell stories about the Dodger players.

One summer afternoon in August of 1953, shortly after I had finished my junior year at Erasmus Hall High School, I was sitting at Pete’s sipping a coke, when Hilda asked me, “How old are you, Henry?” I replied that I was a couple of weeks shy of my 17th birthday.

“What would you like for your birthday?” she asked. Without hesitation I said, “A baseball signed by the Dodger team.” Hilda nodded. “I’ll get it for you.”

About a week later, I dropped into Pete’s for a soda and was waved over by Hilda. She handed me a small gift-wrapped box, and with a smile said, “I think you’ll be happy with what’s in the box.”

Indeed I was. Inside the box were two baseballs, still in their original Spalding red, white and blue wrappers. One baseball contained the signatures of all the Dodger players — Reese, Hodges, Robinson, Campanella, Furillo, Snider, the whole gang — as well as manager Chuck Dressen.

As an added bonus, Hilda also got me a team baseball signed by the New York Giants, who had recently played at Ebbetts Field. Among the better-known names were manager Leo Durocher, Hank Thompson and Sal Maglie.

In the years that followed, I kept these baseballs pristine in their original paper wrappers, taking them out occasionally to reminisce about the good old days when New York boasted three great baseball teams. I have since learned that my Dodger baseball is partially a “club ball,” with some signatures replicated by a bat boy. But no matter. Nothing can diminish the luster of those wonderful relics of a golden era in baseball or that precious moment when at the age of 17 I received them as a birthday gift from Hilda Chester, the cow bell lady.

As I have now entered my “golden years,” I have decided that it’s time to divest myself of many of my childhood and adolescent treasures, so I have consigned the two baseballs to Philip Weiss’s forthcoming sports memorabilia auction on June 10 in the hope that some younger collector will enjoy possessing them in the years ahead.