1930s Rawlings Baseball Sweater

[slidekellyslide]

Found some hidden gems on ebay last week and wanted to share....Picked up a lot of baseball memorabilia from the estate of a career minor leaguer. Matt "Lefty" Stimec was a pitcher in the Cardinals chain in the early to mid 1930s. He was discovered by Red Ruffing while pitching in the Civilian Conservation Corps. He started his minor league career in the Nebraska State League (a collecting specialty of mine) and moved up very quickly, but a knee injury forced him out of organized ball. He could really strike 'em out....there are numerous articles of him striking out 17-19 batters in a game. He didn't throw hard, but he had a lot of pitches and he threw all of them with pinpoint control. The ebay seller did themselves no favor by showing only a picture of the baseball letters from the Norfolk and Springfield clubs....there were a ton of snapshot photos of the different ball teams he played for and even some 1930s ticket stubs of professional games between the Phillies and the Giants...also a D&M baseball rules book (no cover).

[vintagesportscollector]

Great Stuff Dan. Sounds like there were some neat items that you weren't aware of when you won the lot. That must have been a nice feeling opening up the box and see much more than was expected. Congrats!! I dig the sweater too!!

[slidekellyslide]

There was quite a bit that I wasn't expecting in here. I haven't even begun reading all the clippings from this fella's career. Unfortunately there exists very little information on the internet about these minor league teams. So far the only name I recognize in any of this stuff besides Red Ruffing is Marty Marion.