APPRAISER: You brought us in this great group of items from your dad, Randy Gumpert, who was a pitcher in his career. A 1930s Philadelphia A's jersey, a 1947 New York Yankees World Series ring, and 1958 New York Yankees cufflinks. Now your dad was a local boy from Birdsboro, but, obviously, he got around.
GUEST: Yes, he did. Well, his career started when he was 16 years old and went to pitch batting practice for the Athletics. Connie Mack hired him at 16, and he pitched batting practice for them for two seasons. And after he graduated from high school, Connie Mack hired him to pitch in the majors. Following his career with the Athletics, went to the minors, the war came. After the service, then he called the Yankees and said that he had kept in shape during the war and he was hoping that he would be able to play for them. And so he played for the Yankees in '46, '47, and '48, then went to play for the Red Sox, and for the White Sox, and then finally for the Washington Senators. And that's where he ended his career.
GUEST: Wow. He got his start with the Philadelphia A's team that was led by Connie Mack. They had just finished their second dynasty with Jimmie Foxx and Al Simmons, who were now long gone by the time he got on. And the Yankees, and then he ended up with the Senators, which was probably about as low as you could go.
APPRAISER: Yes, well daddy always said that that was the death-knell for a Major League ballplayer, if you wound up with the Senators, so yes.
GUEST: So what happened after that? He worked for the Yankees as a manager. He would go down to spring training as an instructor.
APPRAISER: Your dad started in 1936, and he went on to become a scout and a coach. When did his big league career end?
GUEST: Well, he was in baseball for 56 years. He was 76 when he retired.
APPRAISER: So, first of all, we have this great jersey, which is the A's from the 1930s. Now it's very unusual for a 16-year-old to get called up to pitch batting practice for any big league team, let alone the A's. This was his uniform, we believe…
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: …from pitching batting practice, because there's no number on the back. So this is his very first professional uniform at 16 years old. That's just amazing. So he goes from the A's, he goes to the Yankees, who were known, of course, as world champions, the great Yankees led by Joe DiMaggio, post-World War II, just coming back, and what happens? He gets a World Series ring in 1947. And, actually, that was the best part of his career, too.
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: He had numerous wins for them until he hurt his arm. And that's when his career started going downhill, he started trying to throw a slider, right?
GUEST: Mh-hmm.
APPRAISER: He leaves his career as a player, but the Yankees love him, so he stays on-- correct?-- as a coach and a scout.
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: The Yankees continue their dynasty, they win, win, win, win, win, win, win. 1958, they win, and he gets these great cufflinks.
GUEST: Mh-hmm.
APPRAISER: So you've got this plethora of great memories. So this is his career as a ballplayer. You know, he's 50-51 lifetime, as a player. So they would consider him a journeyman pitcher. And he even had other infamy in giving up Mickey Mantle's first home run in 1951 after he left the Yankees. So let's start with the uniform. This is going to actually be 1934, '35, at 16. It's very hard to find a Philadelphia A's uniform from that period of time. So, for insurance, it's $15,000, easily.
GUEST: Wow.
APPRAISER: Because find another one, it's nearly impossible. The cufflinks from 1958, they're great. People love to collect cufflinks, and they love Yankee cufflinks. These would be insured for about $10,000, okay?
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: Now the ring is the most special of all, because it really in many ways is the pinnacle of his career, the pinnacle of anyone winning a World Championship, let alone for the Yankees in 1947, with Joe DiMaggio and company. This I would put an insurance value on of $50,000.
GUEST: Oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness. Thank you.
APPRAISER: So the total here would be $75,000.
GUEST: These uniforms, we have the two Yankee uniforms at home, we wore them for Halloween costumes.
APPRAISER: (laughs)
GUEST: We did.
