Original glossy 8.5 x 6.5 silver gelatin news service photograph of Hall of Fame catcher Gabby Hartnett of the Chicago Cubs signing a baseball for Al Capone and his 12-year-old son Sonny during a Cubs exhibition game against the White Sox on September 9, 1931. Pictured behind the Capones are bodyguards, which includes ‘Machine Gun Jack’ McGurn. The reverse of the photo bears an Underwood label, pencil notations, and a press caption. In fine condition, with a few light marks. Encapsulated by PSA as an authentic 'Type I' photograph.
During a September 9, 1931, exhibition game against the Chicago White Sox in Comiskey Park, fan-favorite Gabby Hartnett chatted with fans in the first row, one of whom was Al Capone, who was in attendance with his son and a regiment of his bodyguards. Capone was 18 months removed from the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre and less than a year from having served nine months in prison on a concealed weapon charge. When the crime boss asked for a signed baseball for his son, Hartnett didn’t think twice, a decision the press was only too happy to capture and publish in newspapers across the country.
The exhibition game was organized to benefit Governor Louis Lincoln Emmerson’s unemployment fund, which evolved into the Chicago branch of the United Way. Despite the inherent philanthropy, baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis was not happy with the optics of one of his signature players making nice with the notorious Capone, who returned to prison just a month later to serve an 11-year term for tax evasion. The next day, Landis dashed off a terse telegram to Hartnett. ‘You are no longer allowed to have your picture taken with Al Capone.’ The catcher acquiesced to the demand and wired back his reply: ‘OK, but if you don’t want me to have my picture taken with Al Capone, you tell him.’
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