The Boston Braves
Price: $400.00
Hard Cover. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1948. First Edition. Near Fine / Dust Jacket Included.
First edition, first printing. Signed by four Boston Braves: Al Dark, Johnny Sain, Warren Spahn (HOF), and Eddie Stanky. Publisher's blue cloth, with spine lettered in dark blue; in its original red pictorial dust jacket, lettered in black and white. Near fine book, with light wear to spine ends, bump to top right corner of front board, and a tiny ink stain to fore edge of text block; near fine price-clipped dust jacket, with a touch of wear to spine ends, and a light brown squiggle to front panel. Overall, an excellent copy. Warren Spahn, Johnny Sain, Eddie Stanky, and Al Dark were all teammates on the Boston Braves for two years (1948-1949), including the classic 1948 season, in which the team won the NL pennant. The team's reliance on the pitching prowess of Spahn and Sain was summed up in the popular rhyme "Spahn and Sain, then pray for rain," which originated from a poem by Gerald V. Hern. The two won 212 games together as teammates. Warren Spahn was a 17x All-Star, Cy Young Award winner (1957), and 8x NL wins leader. He was inducted into the National Hall of Fame in 1973 and selected for the All-Century Team in 1999. Johnny Sain was a 3x All-Star and 6x World Series champion (three times a player and three as a coach). Eddie Stanky was a three-time All-Star, and Al Dark was a 3x All-Star, 2x World Series champion (as a player in 1954, and as a manager in 1974), and rookie of the year (1948). Item #HKWSJS001
