Monte Irvin (b. February 25, 1919 - d. January 11, 2016) Despite twice leading the Negro National League in hitting, it was 1949 before 30-year old Irvin was signed by the Giants. He began his Negro League career in 1939, and he also played in the Mexican League, where he won a Triple Crown in 1940. In eight NL seasons, he hit .293, leading the league in RBI with 121 in 1951.
		Inducted in 1973
1954 N.Y. Journal American Monte Irvin PSA 8 NM-MT

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Comments: This was one of the first Hall of Famers I remember buying. I purchased a 1954 Topps PSA 6 in August, 2002 and upgraded to a PSA 7 a couple months later with another eBay purchase. In March, 2004 I won an auction for a beautiful PSA 8 from Steve Hart (bbcexchange). In March, 2008 I decided to swap the card out for a new type since I already had Ernie Banks representing the '54 Topps issue. I picked up a SGC 80 '54 NY Journal card on eBay from Bruce Baxter (partnerone). I upgraded to this PSA 8 when I found the card with one of my saved eBay searches in October, 2011 offered by seller Gerry Schwartz (slabbed). At the time, there were only two NM-MT examples in the PSA population report.

Card Details Below:
Year(s):	1954
ACC Set Designation:
Set Name:	N.Y. American Journal
Country:	United States
Description:	Issued during the Golden Age of baseball in New York City, this 59-card set features only players from the Giants, Yankees, and Dodgers. The 2" X 4" cards were issued at newsstands with the purchase of the now-extinct newspaper. Card fronts have promotional copy and a contest serial number in addition to the player's name. Cards are printed in black-and-white on colored stock and unnumbered. Backs feature team schedules. It has been theorized that a 60th card should exist, probably a Brooklyn Dodger. Each card can be found with the word "Offers" printed in either red or black, depending on the contest number at bottom. Numbers beginning with "0" have the word in black. Numbers 100000-150000 have the word in red or black, and numbers over 150000 have the word in red.