NOTE: A scan of the MEARS LOA has now been uploaded to this lot listing. Stored among Ted Patterson's outstanding uniform collection was a curious full uniform - a heavy flannel jersey and pants with a pair of heavy woolen stirrups. The left shoulder of the jersey contained a single letter "B" stitched inside a blue diamond. The number 25 was stitched onto the reverse. While the letter "B" and the fact that the uniform comes from Ted's collection made it likely that it originated with a Baltimore team our uniform database did not yield a definitive answer. That's when we called out the big guns - our pal baseball artist extraordinaire Graig Kreindler. We snapped some photos of the uniform and forwarded them to Graig who has access to a tremendous amount of research (and knowledgeable friends) and within a half hour or so we had our answer - the uniform likely belonged to third baseman Frank Skaff who played with the Baltimore Orioles of the International League between 1944 and 1946. Skaff was a regular for the first two of those seasons batting .268 in 485 at bats and then .285 in 624 at bats before tailing off during the 1946 season. Skaff had a few cups of coffee in the majors playing in six games with the 1935 Brooklyn Dodgers and 32 games with the 1943 Philadelphia Athletics. He also managed the Detroit Tigers in 1966 - we later discovered among Ted's collection a Tigers cap belonging to Skaff from that season. Skaff passed away in 1988 a resident of Towson MD - a suburb of Baltimore where Ted was employed as a broadcaster for the Orioles. It seems likely that Ted obtained this uniform directly from Skaff along with the cap featured elsewhere in this auction. The flannel uniform is unbelievably heavy and the stirrups even more so. As much as we love baseball if we had to patrol the infield wearing material this heavy during the dog days of August even Scott Boras couldn't get us enough money to keep us happy. Nonetheless the uniform is outstanding a beautiful Wilson size 46 jersey with pants and stirrups included clear signs of heavy use evident throughout notably on the pants. Skaff must have dived and slid around the Baltimore infield quite a bit. MEARS has deducted one point for a few missing buttons on the jersey and one point for excessive wear to the pants resulting in a final grade of A8 for the entire uniform. A fantastic early uniform from the International League Baltimore Orioles worn by third baseman and former major leaguer Frankie Skaff likely given by him directly to its owner Orioles broadcaster Ted Patterson. One of the finest game-worn pieces we have handled.