In the summer of 1965, Shea Stadium was buzzing with excitement as nearly 40k fans gathered to celebrate baseball legend Casey Stengel’s 75th birthday. Dugan Brothers, a New York area bakery, even created a baseball card to commemorate the event. Unfortunately, Stengel wasn’t there; he found himself grappling with a broken hip that morning that ended his managerial career.
The Society For American Baseball Research wrote an excellent piece explaining Stengel’s unexpected goodbye, but here’s the 101. On July 24, 1965, 36,921 fans visited Shea Stadium for a doubleheader that also included a two-inning Old-Timers Day game between the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers. But the second game of the doubleheader would become historic as Stengel’s last, a 5-1 Mets loss to the Phillies.
After the loss, Stengel joined a few friends who were back in town, some for the old-timers’ celebration, at Toots Shor’s restaurant. After the early morning departure, Stengel went to the home of Mets comptroller Joe DiGregorio, where, ten years later, we learned he had fallen in the bathroom and broke his hip. He went to the hospital the morning of July 25, where he remained for almost a month, after which he confirmed his retirement, which the Mets made publicly official on August 30.
Now, back to the planned July 25 event. Stengel’s birthday was July 30, but the 25th was probably chosen since the Mets were about to go on the road for games against Chicago and Philadelphia from July 28 through August 1. The planned party included a cake from Dugan Brothers, a New York Area bakery known for their drivers (The Dugan Man) who would deliver items to your home until they went out of business in 1967.
The company also made a one-off card to celebrate Stengel. It’s one of the tougher-to-find 1960s cards.
The 2-1/2″ x 3-1/2″ card was given to each fan in attendance. The front features Stengel in a Mets uniform, while the back has basic biographical information.
PSA has graded a few examples, a PSA 2 and a PSA 3, along with one PSA/DNA copy. SGC has a single 1965 Dugan Bros. Stengel in their pop report, a 5.5. Pricing varies; a slabbed signed copy from Beckett sold on eBay in November 2024 for $659.99; the PSA 2 pictured above has also been on eBay for a while with a $249.99 (or Best Offer) price; it was recently discounted to $199.99. Brockelman Auctions sold the following raw example for $222.75 in February 2021, but you can probably pick up a raw copy for between $50-100 with a bit of patience.
Now, to finish the story. The Mets still said farewell to Stengel at Shea Stadium on September 2, 1965. Here’s an original 7.5″ x 10″ photo of the event showing Stengel walking across the field with a cane.
The Mets finished the 1965 season with a dismal 50-112 record, but the Mets retired Stengel’s #37 before the season was over, and the Yankees followed suit, making Stengel the first person to have his number retired by both teams!