In 1961 the Washington Senators move to Minnesota becoming the Twins and that same year a 146-pound, bespectacled minor league shortstop from Cuba named Zoilo Versalles joined the organization’s major league squad. Though Zoilo struggled with errors he did well enough at the plate, finishing the season with a .280 batting average, and earned a place on the roster.
Auction Preview: Zoilo Versalles’ game-worn 1965 MVP season flannel jersey for sale at Spring Sports Collectibles Auction on May 7-9, 2020.
Billy Martin joined the Twins staff in 1965 and under his tutelage, Zoilo flourished posting career highs in nearly every statistical category. He used his speed to stretch singles into doubles and doubles into triples, got hits when his team needed them the most, and drove in runs at key junctures. Former Billy Martin teammate, Mickey Mantle, said of the Cuban star, “”He does it all now. Fields, hits, thinks – and most important, runs. He’s got to be the most fearsome runner in our league, regardless of the stolen base column.” The team excelled as well making their franchise’s first World Series appearance in thirty-three years. “Zorro”, as Zoilo came to be known, won the AL MVP in a near-unanimous vote, the first Latin-American player to win the award. Way beyond the stats, Versalles’ greatest contribution to his team came from intangibles like clutch play and raw energy. He once said that the energy and desire inside him to play baseball made him feel “Like a tiger in a cage.”
The ultimate representation of that historic season, Zoilo Versalles’ game-worn 1965 MVP season flannel jersey, will be available to the collecting public in our Spring Sports Collectibles Auction on May 7-9, 2020. Displaying that classic Twins logo, sewn on identifiers and his name in chain-link embroidery, this exemplar is nothing short of a period work of art. The jersey’s MVP and Fall Classic vintage, plus Zorro’s cult status and place as the first Latin American player to be named MVP, make this exemplar a most significant piece of baseball history, to say the least.
Preview the auction for Zoilo Versales MVP game-worn jersey.
