Leo Durocher Game Used Photo-Matched 1937 St. Louis Cardinals Jersey With COA
$34,995.00
To call the Massachusetts-born Leo Durocher a baseball "lifer" would be an understatement. "Leo the Lip," earned due to his bombastic and often clashing personality that put him at odds with players, ownership, and all things authority, spent parts of 17 years in Major League Baseball as a player and 24 years as a manager, winning four World Series titles across more than 40 years of experience. Presented is a St. Louis Cardinals road jersey used by Durocher during the 1937 season. Durocher, who served as the captain of what was colloquially known as the "Gashouse Gang" (which Durocher allegedly coined) appeared in 135 games for the Cardinals, batting .203 with 97 base hits and 47 RBI.
The offered jersey is constructed of gray flannel by Rawlings, with a chain-stitched Cardinals birds-on-bat logo on the front of the five button-up jersey. A red/white/red trim decorates the sleeve ends, collar, and placket, and "Lee Durocher" is stitched in red lettering on the jersey's front left tail. A Rawlings manufacturer's size "40" tag is sewn to the inside of the collar of the jersey. The jersey exhibits extensive evidence of game and wash wear, with loose threads throughout the stitching, dirt stains, and tag puckering. Accompanying the jersey is a collection of photocopied letters and documents addressed to and from the minor league ballplayer who was issued the jersey after the jersey was used by Durocher. The jersey comes with an LOA from Sports Investors Authentication (230927M1), who have conclusively photo-matched the jersey to a photo from the 1937 MLB season (Getty 173494929). Additionally, the jersey comes with an LOA from Resolution, who have made a conclusive ResMatch™ to the jersey. Finally, the jersey comes authenticated by SGC with a Book LOA.
A fellow Ebay member sent me this additional info about the jersey:
Back in the late 80’s Leo was sitting at Marvin Hucks table looking at a jersey Marvin had that had holes on the tail. Leo said that he put those there because they would use a shoe string to tie through their legs to keep the jersey from pulling out when the ran or had to slide into a base.
