Lefty Gomez’ first five seasons came with Babe Ruth as his teammate from 1930 to 1934. During this time, Gomez won 89 games, including three 20-win seasons.

His best year came in 1934, Ruth’s last season with the Yankees. In that campaign, Gomez achieved the pitching Triple Crown, leading the league with 26 wins, a 2.33 ERA, and 158 strikeouts. He also posted career highs with 25 complete games and six shutouts.

Ruth left the Yankees in 1935 to finish his career with the Braves. Gomez continued to pitch for nine more seasons, capturing 100 additional victories. He retired after the 1943 campaign, leaving a lasting legacy in baseball.

Here is a photo Gomez signed to Juanita Jennings, the mother of the Bambino’s only biological child.

Twenty-four-year-old Lefty Gomez had already established himself as a star when Goudey Gum Company printed the card above. He won 20 games in both 1931 and 1932 and appeared in Major League Baseball’s first All-Star Game in the summer of 1933.

Gomez pitched three scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out one. He earned the win. Fifty years later, he threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the 50th anniversary of the first All-Star Game.

Gomez also pitched in five World Series, including four consecutive from 1936 to 1939. He went 6-0 with four complete games and a 2.86 ERA in seven starts in the Mid-Summer Classic.

A four-time 20-game winner, Gomez finished with 189 wins and a .649 career winning percentage.

After retiring, he toured as a speaker. The affable left-hander entertained crowds with humor and stories about his Yankee teammates.

He remained visible and caught the attention of the Veterans Committee. In 1972, Gomez was inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Here, he affixes his signature to his 1933 Goudey baseball card.

In 1933, Major League Baseball held an All-Star Game in Chicago to celebrate the city’s centennial. The game coincided with the World’s Fair in the Windy City.

Lefty Gomez started as the pitcher for the American League. The Yankee hurler had just come off two consecutive 20-win seasons, with 9 wins and a save by the end of June.

On July 6, Gomez faced the best the National League offered. He threw three scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out one.

In 1973, baseball honored the surviving players and coaches from the 1933 game with a 40th anniversary celebration. They held the gala at the ’73 All-Star Game in Kansas City, and it received great acclaim.

Gomez attended and caught up with fellow AL stars from 1933: Earl Averill, Joe Cronin, Charlie Gehringer,, and Lefty Grove. The ’73 American League team lost to the NL, 7-1.

The collection includes NL president Chub Feeney’s invitation to the ’73 Mid-Summer Classic, addressed to Hank Aaron. The Hammer contributed in the contest.

In the top of the third, Aaron ripped a single off the Twins’ Bert Blyleven to score Joe Morgan. That run put the Senior Circuit ahead 2-1. They never looked back, winning 7-1. Blyleven took the loss.

This marked Aaron’s final RBI in All-Star competition.

Lefty Gomez was one of the game’s premier pitchers of the 1930s. During the decade he won 165 games and pitched to a 131 ERA+. When the inaugural All Star Game was played in 1933, it was Gomez who threw the first pitch.

The southpaw started five of the first six Mid Summer Classics for the American League. In All Star competition he went 3-1 with a sparkling 2.50 ERA in an era of high-octane hitting.

His finest performance came in 1935. Facing the best the Senior Circuit had to offer, Gomez scattered three hits over six innings. He struck out four and only one run.

Shown here is an invitation to play in that game sent to Senators third baseman Ossie Bluege. Authored and signed by Hall of Fame AL president William Harridge, the correspondence is dated June 29, 1935, thirteen days before the game.

Gomez received a similar letter from the AL chief.

Lefty Gomez was one of baseball’s great storytellers. He loved poking fun at himself while name-dropping.

On July 21, 1969, the United States put a man on the moon. Gomez seized this moment to share his baseball schtick.

“When Neil Armstrong first set foot on the moon, he and all the scientists puzzled over an unidentifiable white object,” the Yankee southpaw said. “I knew immediately what it was. That was a home run ball hit off me in 1937 by Jimmie Foxx.”

Of the 460 batters who Gomez faced, no one had more base hits, walks, triples, home runs, or RBIs than Double-X. Foxx went 49-for-145 against Gomez, with 35 walks, 6 doubles, 5 triples, 14 homers, and 41 RBIs.

In this photo, Foxx and skipper Connie Mack share a conversation outside the Baseball Hall of Fame. Notice the signature of the three-time MVP and 1933 Triple Crown winner.

Here is a photo Gomez signed to the mother of Babe Ruth’s only biological child.

Imagine having free admission to every American League game for you and your guests. Lefty Gomez received this pass granting him just that in 1979 as a Hall of Fame member.

A lifelong American Leaguer, Gomez helped the Junior Circuit win five World Series. He excelled in postseason play, going 6-0 with a 2.86 ERA in seven starts.

In All Star competition, Gomez tallied three wins and a 2.50 ERA against the best the NL had to offer.

After retirement, Gomez maintained a high profile and garnered attention as a public speaker. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1972.