FIRST EDITION OF SWEET SEASONS, SIGNED BY 53 YANKEES INCLUDING MICKEY MANTLE, DON LARSEN, WHITEY FORD AND YOGI BERRA

FORKER, Don. Sweet Seasons. Recollections of the 1955-64 New York Yankees. Dallas, Texas: Taylor, (1990). Octavo, original gray cloth, original dust jacket. $6500.

First edition of this history of the Yankees from 1955-64—an incredible span of ten seasons during which they played in the World Series nine times, winning the championship four times (1956, 1958, 1961, 1962)—with 16 pages of photographic images, signed by 53 players from those great Yankee teams including Mickey Mantle, Don Larsen, Bill "Moose" Skowron, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Enos Slaughter, Bobby Shantz, Tommy Byrne, Hank Bauer, Charlie Silvera, Andy Carey, Frank Crosetti, manager Ralph Houk, and many others.

This fascinating history of the Yankees follows their remarkable ten seasons between 1955 and 1964, in the form of a player-by-player examination of the contributions of 32 of the most significant players on the teams from those years, signed by (at least) 22 of the players who are profiled (a handful of signatures not entirely legible). In 1956, Mickey Mantle won the MVP award for a season in which he led the AL and MLB in batting average (.353), home runs (52), and RBIs (130), becoming the second Yankee (after Gehrig in 1934) to win a Triple Crown. That year the Yankees won the franchise's seventh AL championship under Stengel and advanced to a World Series rematch with the Dodgers. In Game 5, with the Series even at 2-2, Yankees pitcher Don Larsen threw a perfect game. In seven games, the Yankees won the Series. This copy is signed by both Mantle and Larsen.

An about-fine copy, scarce and desirable with this collection of signatures.