Historically significant original photograph captured on April 18, 1946, as civil rights icon Jackie Robinson debuted with the Montreal Royals of the International League, breaking professional baseball's color line. While many are familiar with Jackie's celebrated major league debut on April 15, 1947 (a moment we described as "the single most important event in baseball history" in our previous auction), it was Jackie's debut with the 1946 Montreal Royals, a top farm club of the Brooklyn Dodgers, that first integrated organized baseball in the modern era. 

With over 50,000 fans on hand for Jackie's historic April 18, 1946, debut with Montreal at Roosevelt Stadium in NJ, the man of the hour did not disappoint. Going hitless in his first at-bat, the 27-year-old Robinson blasted a three-run homer in the third inning. Greeting him at the plate was the on-deck batter, white teammate George "Shotgun" Shuba, who congratulated Jackie with a handshake. In the very first public act of kindness expressed to Jackie Robinson on the field of play, this seemingly innocuous gesture signified to the baseball world that Shuba accepted Jackie, the first African American in organized baseball, as an equal. Significantly, Shuba's incredible expression of solidarity, the first interracial handshake in modern professional baseball, heralded an end to segregation in the game almost exactly one year prior to Jackie's promotion to the Dodgers. Jackie would, of course, excel with the big club in his first season, helping the Bums capture a National League pennant before being honored as Major League Baseball's inaugural 1947 Rookie of the Year.

Regarding the handshake, Jackie would later be quoted as saying: "When I crossed home plate, George Shuba was waiting for me. 'That's the way to hit that ball, Jackie,' Shuba said. 'That's the old ballgame right there.' He shook my hand." 

Originating from the collection of George Shuba himself, this approximately 8" x 9.5" photo, now known as "A Handshake for the Century," represents the only known original photographic print. Immortalized as a seven-foot-high bronze statue in George Shuba's hometown of Youngstown, OH, in 2021, the image has appeared countless times online and in modern publications, with every reproduction of the image originating from this very specimen. This is evidenced by professional restoration work applied to the photo that those with a keen eye may be able to spot anywhere the image appears. This work was necessary to help stabilize the print and restore parts of the image due to emulsion loss, including to Jackie's left arm and lower-right leg. All photographic conservation work involved was performed by art conservator Paul Messier, LLC, in 2006, and their full condition report detailing any and all treatment is included.

Unfortunately, PSA will not render an opinion on this photo due to the aforementioned treatment, including the application of Japanese paper to the verso, a common practice in art and photo restoration utilized to help stabilize works. As the photo does not fluoresce under blacklight conditions, we can confidently narrow down the window for development of this photo to sometime between 1946 and 1955, when optical brighteners were widely added to photographic papers. Though a more widely seen image from this very moment does exist and was published in multiple papers the following day, the presented photo has not been found in period publications by either Shuba's estate over the past several decades or by the research we've done since their consignment of the photo to us.

Mike Shuba, George's son, rediscovered this photograph inside a book in his father's basement in 1999, preventing the image from being lost to history forever. Thankfully, art restoration has returned the image as close to its original state as possible and helped to preserve the print for future generations. As important a baseball-related original photo that exists today, documenting the very first appearance of Jackie Robinson in both the Dodgers organization and a formerly all-white professional league. Created directly from the original negative, it remains the only known surviving example.

Size: large
Condition: yes