Official Rawlings Major League (Manfred) baseball signed on a side panel in blue ballpoint by Pope Leo XIV, “Leo PP. XIV.” In very fine condition. A Chicago native, Leo is a lifelong fan of the Chicago White Sox of Major League Baseball, and was even in attendance at US Cellular Field for Game 1 of the 2005 World Series, which concluded with the White Sox sweeping the Astros in four games, winning their third World Series championship and their first in 88 years.
Provenance: The Randy L. Kaplan Collection of Signed Baseballs from World Leaders and Heads of State. Kaplan started collecting baseballs signed by world leaders beginning in the 1990s and has assembled a unique collection of over 450 examples. Over the years, he has sought out such autographs through in-person meetings, book signings, and via diplomatic avenues. The collection has been exhibited at several presidential libraries across the nation, including those of Gerald Ford, Bill Clinton, Lyndon B. Johnson, Herbert Hoover, and Richard Nixon. The collection was also featured on HBO's Vice News and hundreds of other media outlets across the globe, including the New York Times. His goal is to someday have it exhibited at the United Nations, the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, and the Smithsonian Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.
Accompanied by the original USPS bubble mailer sent to Kaplan from the Apostolic Nunciate, copies of letters sent by Kaplan to the Vatican offices, and a signed letter of authenticity from Kaplan detailing how he obtained the baseball signed by Pope Leo XIV, in part: “On May 14, I sent a Rawlings Official MLB baseball and (2) Chicago White Sox caps to Fr. Edgard Ivan Rimaycuna Inga at The Vatican. One for Pope Leo and another for him. Pope Leo is a long-standing Chicago White Sox fan, and he makes it very clear that he is not a Cubs fan. I wanted to show him my appreciation for his love of the game…A few weeks later, I had an epiphany, and I knew the ball would be coming back to me signed. Sure enough, I was correct – the baseball arrived in my mailbox.”
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