Official Reach American League baseball signed in fountain pen on the sweet spot and side panels by the members of the 1932 'Tour of Hawaii' exhibition baseball team, including Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, Moe Berg, Mickey Cochrane, George Kelly, Ted Lyons, Herb Hunter, Estel Crabtree, Taylor Douthit, Bill Brubaker, Augie Galan, and possibly others (indecipherable). In very good condition, with moderate toning and scuffing. Ruth's signature is the boldest signature on the ball; Berg is possibly traced over, Foxx and Cochrane are difficult to make out, and all other names range from faint to legible.
After having arranged successful barnstorming tours of Japan and earning the nickname 'baseball's ambassador,' Herb Hunter brought a team to Honolulu for exhibition games on October 9 and 11, 1932, which included the legends who signed this baseball. After their Hawaiian games, some of the players and coaches continued on to Japan to perform instructions seminars: Hunter taught fielding, Berg taught catching, and Lyons taught pitching. Berg—famously known as 'the catcher who was a spy' for his work with American intelligence agencies—would return to Japan in 1934 as part of an American all-star team. At that time, he filmed the city of Tokyo from atop one of the city's tallest buildings, which footage was reportedly used to familiarize James Doolitte's pilots to familiarize themselves with the landscape during World War II. A star-studded cast of ballplayers on a single baseball, enhanced by this interesting backstory.
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