Ace of the St. Louis Cardinals legendary “Gas House Gang,” the brilliant but all-too-brief career of Jay Hanna a.k.a. “Dizzy” Dean was highlighted by his spectacular 30-7, 1934 season culminating in the Cardinals World Series victory over the Detroit Tigers. Dean led the NL in wins for the second straight season with 28 in 1935 and racked up league-leading totals with 325 and 315 innings pitched respectively in 1935 and 1936. While pitching for the National League in the 1937 All-Star game his left big toe was smashed by a line drive off the bat of Cleveland Indians slugger Earl Averill causing him to adjust his pitching delivery so as not to land so hard on his left foot. He was never quite the same again although he did post a nifty 7-1 record with a 1.81 ERA through 13 games in 1938. A colorful character and gifted humorist Dean enjoyed a second career in the broadcast booth from 1941-1968. Dean’s animated signature with quotation marks in the looping Ds of his nickname and last name appears in bright blue-green ball point pen on the side panel of this Official Joe Cronin American League ball with a PSA/DNA grade of (“8”.) This pristine white ball '9'  and a 1/2 point bump for incredible eye appeal provides an overall grading of (“9”) and comes with PSA/DNA LOA certification #S09521.

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