Sophie Kurys Signed Baseball & Card Racine Belles – COA JSA

Sophie Kurys  amassed a World Record with a career 1,114 stolen bases, more than Ty Cobb (892), and later more than both Lou Brock (938) and Japanese star Yutaka Fukumoto (1,065), until her mark was surpassed by Rickey Henderson in 1994. Her 201 stolen bases in a single season still stands as a professional record, collecting 71 more than Henderson (130), who set the Major League Baseball single-season record in 1982. But like many of her colleagues, Kurys was relatively unknown until the 1992 film A League of Their Own by filmmaker Penny Marshall was exhibited for the first time.

Presented is an unofficial baseball autographed by Sophie Kurys. She signed it on the sweet spot in blue ballpoint (“6”) with the inscription, “Racine Belles 1943-52 HOF 11 ’88”. Also included is a baseball card of her autographed in blue felt tip (“9”) with the same inscription as well as “MVP 1946”.

Authentication: JSA Basic Cert & Sticker

This ball is from one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of autographed baseballs in the world. Altogether they were easily displayable in custom shelf form and alphabetically displayed nonetheless. The choice of medium was visually easy for the encyclopedic collector who put these together. It took several decades to amass these rare autographs of the most prominent entertainers, historical figures, and sports players.  It proved quite difficult to acquire autographs of non-ballplayers on such an odd object (a baseball) but diligence proved otherwise and that it’s possible. So, now with the collection complete and his shelves empty there’s only one thing left to do….bid on this item and start the challenge to see how far you can take it.