In a fabled career that spanned the decades from the Roaring Twenties to the end of the Second World War Mel Ott emerged as one of the great sluggers in baseball history and a towering figure in the National League. Playing in New York City at the same time as Babe Ruth Lou Gehrig and later Joe DiMaggio Ott competed for the spotlight that seemingly was inclined to meander across the Harlem River to the Bronx where the hated Yankees would dominate the baseball world for much of Otts tenure at Coogans Bluff.

Even with this handicap the shining star could hardly be concealed as Ott would win a half dozen National League home run titles and earn 11 All-Star nods (a number that would more likely have approached 17 had the contest been invented earlier in his career). One of the last player-managers in the majors he directed the Giants from 1942-48 closing his playing career in 1947.

As any high level collector of pre-war baseball treasures will tell you Mel Ott game used items are exceedingly rare with any garment from his playing career nearly extinct. This mid-1940s Giants cap is a rare exception. Otts hat boasts a unique red white and blue color scheme departure from the teams historic black and orange team colors a quite understandable nod to the patriotic fervor of the times. The cap has the distinctive NY intertwined letters over the visor in layered white on red felt; the interior leather headband has a chain-stitched 4 Ott and a stamped MacGregor Goldsmith (Size) 7 label that is correct for the period and Otts cap size. In an accompanying detailed LOA from MEARS they explain that the club had utilized the unique color scheme from 1945 through 1946 the first peacetime season after four years of war. MEARS has characterized the wear of this treasure as heavy suggesting a full seasons wear or more raising intriguing possibilities such as its use as Ott struck his 500th and possibly 511th and final home run in 1946 as his playing career wound down. An additional comprehensive four-page letter of analysis from one of the nations leading textile conservators validates the caps age originality and structural integrity.

This is an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to own a museum-worthy piece from one of the true giants (literally and figuratively) in baseball history.

Comes with LOAs from MEARS (Authentic) and The Textile Conservation Workshop Inc.