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The ball lettering and stamping is remarkably bright without the usual fading, some mild toning and a few small spots; signatures show some light to moderate fading. This model of the Official Ernest Barnard American League baseball was utilized by professional baseball from 1929-1931.
Much of the American League for the late 1920’s and 1930’s were dominated by the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Athletics. The Cleveland Indians maintained a strong team with a winning record in 1930 despite the American league being dominated by Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig’s New York Yankees and manager Connie Mack’s Philadelphia Athletics led by Jimmie Foxx, Lefty Grove and Eddie Collins.
Managed by former New York Yankees shortstop and 1925 MVP, Roger Peckinpaugh, the 1930 Indians won 81 games for the second year in a row and finished behind the Athletics, Senators and 5 games behind the Yankees.
Led by 6-time All-Star center fielder and lifetime .318 hitter Earl Averill and shortstop Joe Sewell, with a similar lifetime batting average of .312. Averill led the league with 232 hits in 1936 with a .378 batting average, following slightly behind Luke Appling for the batting title (.388). Averill hit over .300 in 8 of his 12 full seasons in major league baseball.
As a rookie, Sewell led the Indians to their 1920 World Series Championship after being called up following the tragic death of Indians shortstop Ray Chapman. Chapman was struck in the head by a pitch from Yankees pitcher Carl Mays. Sewell proved to be one of the most difficult hitters to strikeout--striking out only 20 times in 558 at bats in 1922 and never striking out more than 9 times in any of his last 9 seasons, including in the 1930 season with a career low of three strikeouts.
Joe Sewell was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1977 and Averill in 1975.
