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The ball that The Beatles signed is a Joe Cronin Official American League baseball. Recently, Steve Grad, Zach Rullo, and Roger Eperson of PSA/DNA, the nation’s leading autograph authenticators, examined this baseball, and unanimously agreed that the signings are positively authentic. The provenance of the baseball is iron-clad as well. The consignor is former major league pitcher, Mike McCormick, and the ball is contemporaneous to the period. Aside from the Letter of Authenticity issued by PSA/DNA, the ball is attended by a signed letter directly from Mike McCormick.

Beatles autographs solicited during the 1966 tour were prohibitively difficult to obtain, and this tour marked the last time they traveled collectively in America. The tour was grueling for them. They were under such tight security in Japan, they were ushered like prisoners in a foreign land. In the Philippines, they snubbed the president and his wife, whereupon they were spurned from the country. On August 11, 1966, the eve of the North American Tour, The Beatles hosted a press conference at the Astor Towers Hotel in Chicago. The result of unrelenting attacks from the press forced John Lennon to make a public apology for his previous comment that “We’re more popular than Jesus.” This five word statement appeared in Datebook Magazine (July 29, 1966). Though quoted out of context by interviewer Maureen Cleave, John accepted full responsibility for the statement. This comment had a ripple effect that was especially seen throughout America’s Bible-belt. Clergymen, public officials and disc jockeys throughout the South urged their listeners to gather at select locations for public burnings of Beatle albums and commercial mementos. The Ku Klux Klan, in full force, rallied in protest outside their concerts. The Beatles also received anonymous threats. Security was at its greatest wherever they performed or lodged. But since they were committed to complete the tour, they continued on through America. The final stop was San Francisco’s Candlestick Park, on August 29, 1966. That night, after they finished playing, they took one last bow, and were whisked away to a waiting vehicle. Little did anyone suspect they had just witnessed the end of an era.