GUEST: We found this ball at my uncle's house after he passed away. He got the ball in 1951 when he was 22 years old at an exhibition game in Aniston, Alabama, the Birmingham Barons versus the Roy Campanella All Stars.
APPRAISER: The Roy Campanella All Stars, and this is 1951, so Roy Campanella's already in the big leagues with the Brooklyn Dodgers, an MVP, one of the best players of his time, of his generation, certainly. What's great about this ball is 1951, after the season ended, Roy Campanella assembled a number of his friends in the big leagues, also African Americans, who had played in the Negro Leagues.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: So, it's basically an All Star ball of these great former Negro League players who were now playing in the Big Leagues. So we have, of course, Roy Campanella on this ball. Roy Campanella famously and unfortunately got into a car accident in the later '50s and lost his ability to sign things, so there isn't a lot of his signatures out there, obviously very little post his accident. So, that's very cool that that's here.
GUEST: That is cool!
APPRAISER: But there's some other great signatures on here, too. Most importantly, we'll talk about the Hall of Famers. Roy Campanella of course would be in the Hall of Fame later, as would Monte Irvin, right here. And probably most famously, Willie Mays.
GUEST: Twice!
APPRAISER: And that is very interesting that it's signed twice, and that's not uncommon. You know, as these baseballs were passed around the clubhouse, guys would sign it, some would come back to them and sign it again. It doesn't add any extra value to it, it's just, you can't go wrong with two Willie Mays signatures.
GUEST: No, you can't!
APPRAISER: It's great. Willie Mays is a rookie in 1951. He's only a few years out of being a Birmingham Black Baron himself. So, here we have a baseball filled with this wonderful and rich Negro League history, and it's from 1951, so it's a time when these Negro Leagues are transitioning into the major leagues, making such a huge difference. And the Negro League team itself, the Birmingham Black Barons, are still playing at the time, so it's a fascinating ball. It's in beautiful condition, too.
GUEST: That's what I was wondering.
APPRAISER: Yeah, it's in beautiful condition, immaculate, signatures are bold, early signatures. It's got everything going for it. If I were to insure it, I would insure it for nothing less than $4,000.
GUEST: Oh, wonderful, wonderful. That's great!
