Thursday, April 8, 2010

Unpossible Autograph-Whitey Lockman

Choosing not to focus on the current O's team until they win their first game of the 2010 season I present to you my first unpossible autograph in a few weeks-


Whitey Lockman 1959 (died 2009)

Whitey was a key part of Bobby Thomson's "Shot Heard Round the World" home run in the 1951 NL Championship series against the Dodgers. If Whitey hadn't doubled prior to Thomson's at-bat, it's very possible that the Giants would not have been able to win the game and baseball lore wouldn't have one of its most storied tales.

Over his 15 year MLB career, Whitey played for four or five different teams, depending on how you classify his appearing for both the San Fran and New York versions of the Giants. Whitey's best years were in the late '40s and early '50s with the New York Giants and he was a member of their 1954 World Series winning team.

He was briefly a member of the Orioles in 1959 near the end of his career and appeared in 38 games for them as a super-utility player.

Whitey continued to work in baseball for forty-one more years after his playing days ended in 1960. He was involved in coaching, managing and front office capacities over that time and was most notably the Cubs manager from mid 1972 until 1974.

Whitey died just over a year ago on March 17, 2009 of complications from pulmonary fibrosis and pneumonia. That doesn't sound very pleasant and I'm hoping that he didn't suffer.

He was a good TTM signer but charged $20-25 per autograph (at least the money went to Jerry's Kids), so I probably came out ahead by buying this on ebay for about ten bucks. I'm not convinced that he is wearing an O's uniform on the card but it's listed as an Orioles card so it works for me.

2 comments:

SAinPA said...

Nice Card! Did you see that the Os are showing autograph days at the games again this year? I think the first session is pregame on April 12th.

Orioles Magic said...

That's good news for me! Thanks for the heads up.