MONTE IRVIN - AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPT SIGNED - HFSID 290892

MONTE IRVIN
Thrilling, handwritten account of his Giants' drive to the 1951 National League pennant, from the arrival of rookie Willie Mays to the celebration after Thompson's home run. A splendid first-hand account of one of baseball's greatest seasons!
Autograph Manuscript signed: "Monte Irvin", 1 page, 8½x11. Titled "1951, 1954 World Series" (unknown hand). Irvin writes only about 1951. His account in full: "We were in 5th place in May of 1951. Willie Mays reported to us in Phila. During the 3 games series he got no hits but caught everything in the outfield, threw out everybody who tried to score, and made stars out of the Philly infielders. After winning all 3 games we moved to the Polo Grounds that Friday nite and the first time up against Warren Spahn he hit a tremendous home run off the left center field façade. He was on his way. In mid-August we found ourselves 13½ games behind the Dodgers. Durocher called a meeting and told us to see how close we could come in catching them. We won 16 in a row. On the last day we won up in Boston and the Dodgers won in Philly so it was now the best 2 out of 3. We won in Brooklyn. Then the last two games were in N.Y. They won in New York to tie. Don Newcombe struck out the side in the 8th inning, leading 4-1. In the bottom of the 9th Dark singled, Mueller singled, I fouled out to Hodges but Lockman doubled down the left field line. Dark scored and Mueller sprained his ankle sliding into third. Hartung ran for him. Big Newk was removed for Branca. The first pitch was a called strike. The next was one a fast ball in the same place and Bobby whacked it. When we saw the ball go into the stands we simply couldn't believe that we had won. Russ Hodges our announcer kept saying The Giants won the pennant - the Giants won the pennant, over and over again. We celebrated in the clubhouse for a long, long time. Then we reported to Yankee Stadium the next day and beat the Yankees the first game of the World Series.".  After baseball's color line was broken in 1947, Monte Irvin (1919-2016) became the fourth black player signed to a Major League team. The ballplayer was a four-sport star in high school and was even offered a scholarship to play football at the University of Michigan. Nevertheless, he stuck to baseball, playing for the Newark Eagles of the Negro National League.From 1938 to 1942, he played for the Eagles and, briefly, for the Azules de Veracruz of the Mexican League. After serving in the military from 1943 to 1945, Irvin returned to the Newark Eagles and helped them defeat the Kansas City Monarchs to win the 1946 Negro League World Series. In 1949, the fielder became one of the first black players to sign to an MLB team. He joined the New York Giants, later mentoring his teammate Willie Mays when he joined the team. Hank Thompson, Willie Mays, and Irvin formed the first outfield entirely composed of black players. As a member of the Giants, Irvin helped lead the team to a 1954 World Series win. Irvin was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973. Lightly creased with multiple mailing folds. Otherwise, fine condition.