BACK IN HARNESSRoy Campanella wears baseball garb and a smile at his home yesterday where he is making preparations for trip to Los Angeles Dodgers training camp at Vero Beach, Fla. Still in a wheel chair with injuries received a year ago in an automobile accident, Campanella has been hired as a Dodger coach.
DATE: 1-19-1959
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: Brooklyn Dodgers
SUBJECT: Roy Campanella
ISSUER: Associated Press
APPROXIMATE SIZE: 10"x8-1/8"
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: Roy Campanella (Campy) was born in 1921 in Philadelphia, PA and died in 1993 in Woodland Hills, CA. He played major league baseball from 1948 to 1957 as catcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers, appeared in the 1947, 1952, 1953, 1955 and 1956 World Series, was selected 8 times as an All-Star, and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1969. He was voted National League MVP 3 times (1951, 1953 and 1955). Campanella learned to speak Spanish rather well thanks to his winter-ball exposure. He would later help Spanish-speaking teammates such as Sandy Amorós. One of the top sluggers of his era, he finished third in the league in homers twice and was fifth once, peaking at 41 long balls. On January 28, 1958, Campanella was involved in a career-ending automobile accident that left him permanently paralyzed. He never played a game in the majors after age 35. He played for the last Brooklyn club and never played for a Los Angeles Dodgers team. Roy Campanella was a surprisingly busy man after he got out of the hospital in late 1958. His health was delicate, but he was still tending to his business ventures (and the misadventures of his wayward stepson David). He attended spring training at Vero Beach and went out to Los Angeles for the big night in his honor at the Los Angeles Coliseum on May 7, 1959. Attendance was 93,103. He appeared at Yonkers Raceway on July 1. In August, he even acted in an episode of the TV show Lassie. Among all these other activities he fit in the formation of a semi-pro ballclub at Ebbets Field called the Brooklyn Stars. Before he died of a heart attack on June 26, 1993, he had continued to serve as an instructor at spring training and as a member of the Dodgers' community-service division in Los Angeles.
SKU: XP13186
Item: XP13186