DATE: 1984 ORIGINAL or REPRINT: Type 4 - Second or later-generation photo, printed from a duplicate negative or wire photo process, in a later period TEAM: New York Yankees SUBJECTS: Lefty Gomez, Herb Pennock ISSUER: The Sporting News PHOTOGRAPHER: Charles Conlon APPROXIMATE SIZE: 4"x5-1/2" MARKS / STAMPING: Has standard postcard back but remains postally unused. NUMBER OF PHOTOS: 2 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: Vernon Louis Gomez (Goofy) was born in Rodeo, CA and died in 1989 in Greenbrae, CA. He played major league baseball from 1930 to 1943 as pitcher for the New York Yankees and a single game with the Washington Senators., appeared in 5 World Series, was selected 7 times as an All-Star, and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972. He was a bit of a screwball, nicknamed "El Goofy", and delighted in playing practical jokes on everyone from teammates to umpires. He once stopped a World Series game to watch an airplane fly overhead. He came up with the idea of a revolving goldfish bowl to make life easier for older goldfish. In retirement, Gomez travelled over 100,000 miles every year, for 40 years, as an ambassador for baseball. Became a sought-after dinner speaker known for his humorous anecdotes about his playing days and the personalities he knew. He was welcomed in every dugout of the National and American Leagues, from sandlot to NCAA collegiate ball, and also worked as a National Sales Rep for team sports for Wilson Sporting Goods. In reality, he never retired from baseball. Lefty is known not only for his baseball heroics (only man to post a perfect world series record, pitch Triple Crown ball in 1934 and 1937, and to start and win the first All-Star Game, not to mention his 100 mph hour fast ball), but his magnetic, winning personality and classic one liners made him the glue of the Yankee dynasties of the thirties. He was the first major league star to manage a mixed raced team in Venezuela because he only saw talent on the diamonds, not color, and he managed the Cienfuegos team in Havana, and in the Yankee farm system at Binghamton with Whitey Ford, Jerry Coleman and Vic Raschi on the roster. He ranked #73 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and was a nominee for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. Herbert Jefferis Pennock (The Knight Of Kennett Square) was born in Kennett Square, PA and died in 1948 in New York, NY. He played major league baseball from 1912 to 1934 as pitcher for the Philadelphia Athletics, Boston Red Sox, and the New York Yankees, appeared in the 1914, 1923, 1926, 1927 and 1932 World Series, and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1948. Pennock went straight from high school to the major leagues by joining the Philadelphia Athletics in 1912. After retiring, Pennock became a coach and farm system director of the Red Sox, then, from 1944-48, the general manager of the Philadelphia Phillies. He died at age 53 after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage, just weeks before he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1948. In 1981, Lawrence Ritter and Donald Honig included him in their book The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time. SKU: L13916
Item: L13916
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