1950s House of David Baseball Jersey

Item Details

A rare and wonderful artifact is highlighted in this lot, a 1950s House of David jersey. This jersey was worn by a manager of the team, Thomas Ray Gatts. The estate of Mr. Gatts has consigned this jersey; he passed away in June of 2015. The jersey is gray with a blue with red keyline stripe around the collar and down the front on each side of the zipper. ‘HOUSE OF DAVID’ is in blue lettering that has a red keyline around each letter. The jersey was made by Mages, which was located in Chicago. The House of David was a religious community established in Benton Harbor, Michigan. Their purpose was to gather the 12 lost tribes of Israel; the founder Benjamin Purnell loved the game of baseball. The House of David baseball teams were as talented as any professional team, hence, famous players like Babe Ruth, Satchel Paige and Grover Cleveland Alexander would barnstorm with the team. The House of David recruited Ray to manage the team, he barnstormed with Satchel Paige. Satchel and Ray became close friends. A copy of the original photo shows Thomas in his House of David uniform talking with Satchel Paige; this copy was provided by the estate of Mr. Gatts. There was an article printed by the Dayton Daily News on June 8, 1997; Mr. Gatts was interviewed about his time in baseball.

Dimensions

Item #

16CIN003-161