26 Rings and a Pocket Watch (Day III of VI)

The New York Yankees have won the most World Series (27) in MLB history. Though, while the presentation of a ring is common in todays sporting world, the Yankees have only awarded 26 rings to their players.

This week we go year-by-year and showcase each team and what the players were rewarded for each World Series win.

1939 World Series

Unfortunately for the vast history of the New York Yankees and their World Series rings, there is very little change year-to-year. That’s very true for the period from 1932-1947.

The rings from 1932 to 1947 were all produced by Dieges & Clust, they were all cast in a fourteen-karat soft gold, they all had the same shank (except for the changing of the year on the bottom), and for the most part (minus some small changes year-to-year) they have the same central genuine diamond placed in a silver figural baseball diamond. As you scroll between the rings of this period (1939-1947 on today’s post; 1932-1938 from Monday’s post) you can see the minor changes as they slowly detail the infield diamond better, showing the bases and baselines much more cut out and prominent throughout the years.

Unfortunately, this also does make for much more of a “slideshow” type post for these few years of Yankees championships.

1941 World Series

Here’s a fun-ish note to think about:

On Monday, I may have incorrectly wrote (multiple times) that the many Hamilton pocket watches were presented by the New York Yankees. While this is definitely true for the 1923 Gruen pocket watch and the 1927 Hamilton wristwatch (both from our first post on these keepsakes), this may not have actually been the case for the years between 1937 and 1941 each pocket watch had the engraving on the back “PRESENTED BY BASEBALL COMMISHIONER”. It is a very real possibility that these watches were commissioned by the baseball commissioner each year to go to the World Series winning team. Unfortunately, I was unable to find any sources to confirm whether it was the New York Yankees or the Office of the Commissioner who gave out these watches.

Now, I have only been using photos of sold memorabilia from auction houses, though for many years before and after 1937-1947 many teams were giving out similar keepsakes like the Athletics in 1913 and 1930. These pocket watches did not have the same case engraving, however. This may be worthy of a greater search/investigation.

1943 World Series

1947 World Series

Check back tomorrow as we highlight the 5 rings from the New York Yankees dynasty of the lat4 1940’s and early 1950’s as they won 5-straight World Series wins between 1949 and 1953!