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The above ball comes from an exhibition game played October 6, 1932 in Devil's Lake, N. D. As part of a larger U.S.-Canada
tour, the game featured a barnstorming team of Major League All-Stars led by Earl Mack, against the local Devil's Lake Lakers.
With Hall of Famers like Lefty Grove, Heinie Manush, and Charlie Gehringer its no surprise the All-Stars won the game 5-0,
"...without much effort."
As a young man the autographs were collected following the game by my retired neighbor and he in turn gave the ball to me
when I was a kid over 20 years ago. For much of that time it has been in a shoe box and only recently did I rediscover it and
begin researching its rich history. The blue and red stitching, used for just a few years in the mid-30's, along with the
research I've conducted, helps to establish the authenticity and provenance of the ball. The signatures that remain ledgible
on the ball, including Charlie Gehringer, Earl Mack, Rube Walberg, and Joe Judge led to the initial break in my research. Following
a lead from Hall of Fame Library researcher Bill Francis I soon had the box score for the Devil's Lake game. Using that
information I was able to further identify the signatures of Luke Sewell, Earl Whitehill, Lefty Grove, Bing Miller, Eric McNair,
Red Kress, and Heinie Manush- bringing the total to eleven. Clearly, someone added the ‘At Devil's Lake Oct. 6, 1932' to the
ball later, but to establish independently via the box score that there was a game played by these men on that day in Devil's
Lake adds tremendous credibility to the ball's origins.
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