"Sunny Jim" Bottomley doesn't rank among the top players all-time in any single category but his overall contribution to baseball and specifically the city of St.Louis is immeasurable. Bottomley's league-leading 40 doubles and 120 RBI helped earn St.Louis their first National League pennant and World Series championship in the franchise's 42 year history. The Cardinals returned to the World Series again in 1928, 1930 and 1931 with Bottomley taking the NL Most Valuable Player Award in 1928 by rising to the top of the list in triples (20), home runs (31) and runs batted it (136) while also posting a .325 batting average. Sunny Jim passed in 1959 but was selected to enter the Hall of Fame by the Veteran's Committee in 1974. Given to players at their Hall of Fame induction ceremony, a framed example of how their plaque will appear in the Hall of Fame is printed and framed for the inductee to display at home, a one of a kind piece for every Hall of Famer. It was customary for each year's induction class to pose together with these framed plaque photos, though widow Betty Bottomley stepped in for the departed "Sunny Jim" for the 1974 photo (the photo with Betty and the other HOF inductees is featured in this auction but sold separately), which included Yankees icon Mickey Mantle as part of the induction class. The photographic reproduction of Bottomley's plaque has been matted and framed, and the simulated leather matte has a gold embossed “NATIONAL BASEBALL HALL OF FAME” at the bottom. The back side has the traditional cardboard hinge that allows it to be displayed on either a wall or standing upright on a table. These almost never come up for sale, and this one is made available only because it comes directly from the estate of Jim Bottomley. A true collector's prize!
NOTE: The original type I photograph of Betty Bottomley with Commissioner Bowie Kuhn IS INCLUDED with the Hall of Fame Plaque piece.