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"Greatest Manager" Engraved Wristwatch Presented t

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"Greatest Manager" Engraved Wristwatch Presented to Casey Stengel from Del Webb
Casey Stengel might never have landed in Yankee Stadium had not Del Webb, co-owner of the New York Yankees, driven by the Oakland Park in Emeryville at eight o'clock one morning in the summer of 1948. Webb, who was born in Fresno, California, had aspired as a young man to play baseball professionally, but when he came down with typhoid fever at the age of 26, he moved to Phoenix, Arizona and turned his energies to the contracting business. He and a partner acquired the Yankees in 1945. In the summer of '48 Webb had a construction job near the Oaks' field. He took in a night game there and had his first encounter with Stengel. Webb recalls, "after the game I sat around and talked baseball with Casey, Club President Brick Laws and others until one o'clock. Driving by the park the next morning I heard a baseball being hit inside. I was curious to know who was working out so early in the day; went in to see. There was Ol' Case hitting infield practice for several kids, showing them this and that. I made up my mind then that anyone with that kind of enthusiasm for baseball at fifty-seven years of age belonged in the major leagues. I knew then that I had the next Yankee manager." The rest as they say is history. Webb expressed his gratitude for their long and successful relationship with the gift of this watch. Made by Longines, the 18k white gold wristwatch features diamonds decorating the perimeter as well as the face. Webb's sentiment engraved on the back reads, "Casey, everything considered the greatest manager who ever put on a uniform – Del." LOA from the Stengel family.

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