KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE BALLDon Drysdale, left, tosses up a ball and Harmon Killebrew holds a bat after they were formally introduced as two of the latest baseball Hall of Fame inductees Wednesday in New York.
DATE: 1-12-1984
ORIGINAL or REPRINT: Type 3 - Second or later-generation photo, printed from a duplicate negative or wire photo process, within about 2 years of when it was shot
TEAM: Los Angeles Dodgers
SUBJECTS: Don Drysdale, Harmon Killebrew
ISSUER: Associated Press
APPROXIMATE SIZE: 8-3/8"x11"
NUMBER OF PHOTOS: 1
COMMENTS / CONDITION: This is one of a large accumulation of vintage sports photographs, slides and negatives that we will be listing over the coming months. Wear on these, if any, is mostly confined to minor corner and edge wear, but see scans for further details including condition. We do not deal in stock images or modern reprints, and all scans shown are of the actual vintage photograph, slide or negative being sold. If you have any questions about a particular piece, please ask before the auction ends.
BIO: Donald Scott Drysdale was born in 1936 in Van Nuys, CA and died in 1993 in Montreal, CAN. He played major league baseball from 1956 to 1969 as pitcher for the Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers, appeared in the 1956, 1959, 1963, 1965 and 1966 World Series, was selected 8 times as an All-Star, and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1984. Drysdale earned the Cy Young Award for his performance in the 1962 season, and was also the 1962 National League Pitcher of the Year and 1962 Major League Player of the Year. Drysdale had a reputation as one of the meanest, toughest pitchers in baseball of his time. He invoked what might be called the Drysdale rule: you hit one of mine, I hit two of yours. And the statistics back him up. He led the league in hit batsmen five times and hit 154 during his career. Drysdale and teammate Sandy Koufax held out together before the start of the 1966 season. This was a precursor to the growing bargaining power of the players that reached fruition during the 1970s with a stronger union and free agency. Drysdale set two new major league records in 1968. His six consecutive shutouts (May 14 through June 4) still stand but his 58 consecutive scoreless innings (May 14 through June 8) was broken by Orel Hershiser twenty years later. He was a television broadcaster for the Chicago White Sox from 1982 to 1987 and the Los Angeles Dodgers from 1988 until his death. Prior to that, he has been a broadcaster for the Montreal Expos, Texas Rangers, and California Angels. He was married to Basketball Hall of Famer Ann Meyers from 1986 to 1993. When Ann was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in May 1993, it was the first marriage of Hall of Famers from the four major sports.
Harmon Clayton Killebrew (Killer) was born in 1936 in Payette, ID and died in 2011 in Scottsdale, AZ. He played major league baseball from 1954 to 1975 as infielder for the Washington Senators, Minnesota Twins and the Kansas City Royals, appeared in the 1965 World Series, was selected 11 times as an All-Star, and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1984. Harmon Killebrew hit 573 lifetime home runs and was in the top 5 in the MVP voting six times, but nevertheless was a bit controversial as a Hall of Fame selection due to his low batting average of .256. His #3 is retired by the Minnesota Twins. Along with Lou Gehrig, he hit 49 home runs in a season twice but was never able to hit 50 in a single season. The seat that Killebrew hit with the longest home run at Metropolitan Stadium is suspended from the roof of the Mall of America, the former site of Met Stadium in Bloomington, MN. Killebrew was a television broadcaster for the Twins from 1976 to 1978 and again from 1984 to 1988. Although Killebrew supposedly was the model for the Major League Baseball logo, MLB.com says, "No one player has ever been identified as the model of the 1969 Major League Baseball batter logo."
SKU: L20237
Item: L20237