Posted By:
Al C.risafulliI sold a card once to the grandson of Rip Radcliff.
After the Yankees won the pennant in 1939, the American League instituted a rule that prevented teams from trading with the pennant winner. This rule was, essentially, to keep the Yankees from improving even further, after winning 4 World Series in a row.
The Detroit Tigers won the pennant in 1940.
When Hank Greenberg enlisted in the armed forces, the Tigers paid cash to the Browns for Rip Radcliff, and all the other teams looked the other way. Radcliff, essentially, was the guy responsible for the elimination of the "keep the Yankees down" rule.
His grandson knew the story, and through a series of email exchanges talked about his grandfather's friendships with Bill Dickey and Lou Gehrig, among others. Nice guy. I lost his email address, but he was looking for a photo of the 1936 AL all-star team, of which Radcliff was a member. I searched for one at the 2005 National for him, but never found one.
-Al