Walter Johnson 1909 Handwritten Signed Postcard w/Great Historical Baseball Content - Full JSA LOA

• Sold For: $1,599
• Year: 1909
• Auction: 2018 May
• Lot #: 8
• Auction Category: Autographed Baseballs/Flats/Photos

Decades before campaigning for political office himself, 21-year-old Walter Johnson sent out this Harris & Ewing postcard picturing President William Howard Taft"s Inauguration Day parade. In so doing, he marked a major milestone in minor-league history by documenting Gavvy Cravath"s move to the Minneapolis Millers, where Cravath set a single-season record of 29 HRs (unheard-of in the Deadball Era) and established the 1910-11 Millers as the pinnacle minor-league squad of the period. Johnson"s 6/1/09 note back home to Fullerton resident John Craig (presumably a high-school chum) reads, "We win a game once in a while but not very often. Cravath went to Minneapolis today. Groom shut N.Y. out today he pitched a good game." Johnson signs off as "Walt." Fascinatingly, Cravath began the year with the Red Sox, got sold to the White Sox, got traded to the Senators, and was quickly demoted to the Millers after just 6 at-bats with Washington. The 1909 campaign also happens to have been Johnson"s final mediocre performance (a 13-25 record) before blossoming into the dominant Big Train. His handwriting here rates "7-8" strength, and the 3-1/2" x 5-1/2" postcard is VG overall. Full LOA from JSA.