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Monte Stratton hand picked Jimmy Stewart to portray him in the 1949 Academy Award winning film, “The Stratton Story”. The love story was based on the pitcher’s life, centering around his relationship with his wife.

It featured his rise to the big leagues and the hunting accident that cost him his leg at age 26. Stratton’s indomitable will enabled him to return to professional baseball. After the amputation, Stratton pitched in the minors until he was 41 years old.

Stratton was a willing signer through the mail for autograph collectors. Though examples of his autograph are plentiful, the one shown above is quite desirable.

Here’s the backstory: In 1909 Louis Heilbroner founded Heilbroner’s Baseball Bureau Service, the first commercial statistical bureau dedicated entirely to baseball. Heilbroner gathered biographical information on players using 3×5 cards. This is one such card.

Stratton filled out and signed this before the lanky right-hander threw his first big league pitch in 1934. The front of this card shows Stratton’s birthplace, height, and weight and his preference of pitching and hitting from the right side. The former All Star Stratton has neatly signed the bottom of the card.

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The back of the card has more information about Monty Stratton including a short newspaper article. Resembling a library card from a bygone era, the card lists the teams for which Stratton played.

The newspaper story reads in part, “Baseball offered a lifetime job Saturday to Monty Stratton, the ace White Sox pitcher who recently underwent amputation of his right leg after suffering a gunshot wound.

“J. Louis Comiskey, White Sox president, notified Stratton that as soon as he is fully recovered he can step into a permanent position with the White Sox office organization.”

Baseball did more than its part in helping Stratton. The White Sox and Cubs played an exhibition game in April of 1939 with proceeds going directly to amputee. The game netted the pitcher more than $29,000, a sum that translates to more than a half-million dollars today.

Such examples of vintage autographs and information make Heilbroner cards coveted by collectors.

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Monty Stratton’s courageous comeback after the 1938 amputation of his right leg captivated the country. An All Star in 1937 Stratton won 15 games in both’37 and ’38. After the amputation Stratton made it back to pitching professionally, throwing in the minor leagues until 1953.

In 1948 while the hurler was still active, MGM Studios produced a full-length feature film. Jimmy Stewart starred in the title role of The Stratton Story. The film was a box-office success, earning more than $1 million in profit. During the Oscars it won the Academy Award for best writing in a Motion Picture Story.

Shot in Chicago’s Comiskey Park, and the PCL’s Gilmore Field and Wrigley Field in Los Angeles, the film featured former Major Leaguers Jimmy Dykes, Gene Beardon, Merv Shea, and Hall of Fame catcher Bill Dickey.

In the collection is this contract dated November 15, 1948 calling for Dickey to appear in the movie. The Yankee backstop had previous acting experience playing himself in the Lou Gehrig biopic The Pride of the Yankees. In The Stratton Story Dickey appears in multiple scenes with speaking parts, becoming the only Major League player to be in two Academy Award-winning baseball films.