THE LOS ANGELES DODGERS - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED BASEBALL CIRCA 1969 CO-SIGNED BY: MAURY WILLS, DON SUTTON, BILL RUSSELL, RED ADAMS, PETE MIKKELSEN, JIM BREWER, KEN BOYER, WES PARKER, AL (ALVIN O'NEAL) MCBEAN, JOE "SKEETER" MOELLER, BILLY "BULLDOG" GRABARKEWITZ, RAY LAMB, BILL SINGER, MANNY MOTA, WALTER E. "SMOKEY" ALSTON, JEFF TORBORG, TED SIZEMORE, JIM BUNNING, LEN GABRIELSON, ANDY KOSCO, JIM "FRENCHY" LEFEBVRE, CLAUDE "GOMER" OSTEEN - HFSID 165022

LOS ANGELES DODGERS (1969)
Baseball signed by 21 team members
Baseball signed: "Walt Alston", "Jeff Torborg", "Jim Brewer", "Len Gabrielson", "Claude Osteen", "Ray Lamb", "Wes Parker", "Ken Boyer", "Ted Sizemore", "Al McBean", "Andy Kosco", "Jim Bunning", "Maury Wills", "Manny Mota", "Don Sutton", "Pete Mikkelsen", "Bill Singer", "Red Adams" (twice), "Bill Grabarkewitz", "Bill Russell", "Jim Lefebvre" and "Joe Moeller". In all 21 signers. The 1969 Los Angeles Dodgers went 85-77, the first of ten consecutive winning seasons which would result in three National League Pennants (1974, 1977 and 1978) but no World Championship. (They lost to the Oakland A's in 1974 and to the New York Yankees in back to back World Series.) The ball includes many players beloved by Dodger fans. WALTER ALSTON (1911-1984) managed the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers for 23 years (1954-1976), winning seven pennants and four World Series (1955, 1959, 1963, 1965). He finished with a managerial winning percentage of .558 (2,040-1,613). Three times the National League Manager of the Year, Alston entered the Hall of Fame in 1983. JEFF TORBORG (b. 1941) caught for the Dodgers and the California Angels from 1964 to 1973, known for his defensive skills. He later managed five teams: the Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox (Manager of the Year in 1990), New York Mets, Montreal Expos and Florida Marlins between 1977 and 2003. Relief pitcher JIM BREWER (1937-1987) spent most of his 17-year Major League career with the Dodgers. An All-Star in 1963, he played on three Dodger World Series teams, the World Championship team of 1965 and the Pennant-winners of 1966 and 1974. Outfielder LEN GABRIELSON (b. 1940) spent the last four of his nine Major League seasons with the Dodgers (1967-1970). In "the year of the pitcher" (1968), Gabrielson had his best year at the plate, leading the team with a .270 average, the lowest team-leading batting average in franchise history. CLAUDE OSTEEN (b. 1939), who pitched for six Major League teams (1959-1975) but mostly the Dodgers, won in double figures for 10 consecutive years (1963-1972). He appeared in two World Series (1965 and 1966), and three All-Star games. RAY LAMB (b. 1944) pitched well in relief for the Dodgers (1969-1970), before being traded to the Indians, who made the perhaps unwise decision to switch him to a starting role. WES PARKER (b. 1939), a Dodger all his Major League career (1964-1972) was in the lineup for his outstanding glove work at first base. His one exceptional year at the plate was 1970, when he hit .319 with 111 RBI and led the NL with 47 doubles. He retired at 32 with a ML career-record .996 fielding average and six straight Gold Gloves. Third baseman KEN BOYER (1931-1982), an All-Star in 7 seasons for the St Louis Cardinals and the NL MVP in 1964, spent the final two seasons (1968-1969) of his 15-year Major League career with the Dodgers. TED SIZEMORE (b. 1945), who made his debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers, was named National League Rookie of the Year in 1969. He played second base for the team for two seasons. Sizemore also played shortstop, outfield, third base and catcher over his career major league career with the St. Louis Cardinals (1971-1975), the Philadelphia Phillies (1977-1978) and the Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox (both 1979). AL McBEAN (b. 1938), the only big league pitcher from the Virgin Islands, spent most of his 10 Major League seasons (1961-1970) for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He went 15-10 as a starter in 1962, and was named Reliever of the Year in 1964. JIM BUNNING was the first pitcher to record 100 wins and 1,000 strikeouts in each league. He pitched a no-hitter for the Detroit Tigers in 1958 and a perfect game for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1964, the first National League perfect game since 1880. When he retired after the 1971 season, he was second only to Walter Johnson with 2,885 strikeouts. Bunning represented Kentucky as a Republican in the US House (1987-1999) in the Senate (1999-2011). He was the only person to vote to impeach President Clinton in the House (1998) and to vote guilty in his Senate trial (1999). A dominant figure in the founding of the players' union, he helped establish the players' pension plan. In 1996, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Bunning played only one fraction of a season (1969) with the Dodgers.No one epitomized the style of LA Dodger baseball - squeezing out one run at a time - than shortstop MAURY WILLS (b. 1932). He led the league in stolen bases six consecutive years, including 104 stolen bases in 1962, which helped earn him Most Valuable Player honors. Only three players in the 20th century (Rickey Henderson, Lou Brock and Vince Coleman) have had higher 1-season stolen base totals than that.) A 5-time All-Star and 2-time Gold Glove Shortstop, Wills began and ended his career with the Los Angeles Dodgers and played for them in four World Series, three of them victories. Baseball's all-time pinch-hit leader, with 150, and Pittsburgh's fourth outfielder from 1963 to 1968, the Dominican MANNY MOTA (b. 1938) hit .332 in 1966, his first of seven .300 seasons in eight years. Hindered by a lack of power and fielding ability, Mota's only season of more than 400 at-bats came with the 1970 Dodgers. Amid a 1974 youth movement, he emerged as a pinch hitter extraordinaire. He had ten or more pinch hits six straight seasons; 250 of his last 309 at-bats came off the bench. He finally retired with a .297 pinch-hitting average. His .315 batting average is the best (1,800 or more at-bats) in Los Angeles Dodger history. DON SUTTON (1945-2021) pitched for the Los Angeles Dodgers (1966-1980, 1988), Houston Astros (1981-1982), Milwaukee Brewers (1982-1984), Oakland A's (1985), and California Angels (1985-1987), winning 15 or more games twelve times. The 4-time All-Star and Hall of Fame member (1998), who began his career with the Dodgers when he was 21 and ended it 22 years later, back in Los Angeles, at age 43, went 324-256 with 3,574 strikeouts. BILL SINGER (b. 1942), a Major Leaguer from 1964 to 1976, pitched primarily for the Dodgers. A two-time All Star, he had three seasons with over 200 strikeouts. He teamed up with Nolan Ryan on the California Angels from 1973 to 1976; together, they combined for more strikeouts in 1973 - 624 - than any other pitching duo (Ryan with 383, first in the American League, and Singer third with 241). RED ADAMS (1921-2017) coached for the Dodgers from 1969 to 1980, serving under two long-time managers: Walter Alston and Tommy Lasorda. Shortstop BILL RUSSELL (b. 1948) played his entire big league career with the Dodgers from 1969 until 1986. During that time he was a three-time All Star and a two-time World Series champion. His career statistics include 1,926 hits, 627 RBI's and a batting average of .263. He became the manager of the Dodgers in 1996 and stayed for three seasons accumulating a .537 win percentage. The National League's Rookie of the Year in 1965, switch-hitting second baseman JIM LEFEBVRE (b. 1942) played his entire Major League career with the Dodgers, then finished out his playing career in Japan (1973-1976). A respected batting coach, Lefebvre also managed the Seattle Mariners, Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers. He made a few appearances as a TV actor in the late 1960s, including an episode of Batman. Lightly toned. Signature light and faded. Otherwise, fine condition.