October 30, 2014


With almost no information available on vintage Yankee championship rings, some facts were discovered this week.

(Click picture below for a larger picture)

The Yankee 1953 World Series Ring is a very special ring. Made by Balfour, this ring temporarily broke a long running tradition of Yankee World Series rings: Yankee championship rings changed very little since the team won in 1932.

Yankee World Series rings did change slightly in 1949 when they settled into the same exact top, year after year and remained unchanged until 1977. The one different ring during that long time period was the 1953 championship ring – their fifth consecutive World Series championship.

The 1953 Yankees World Series ring, to celebrate their amazing 5th consecutive championship, was a temporary departure from their standard World championship ring. As you can see from the photo above, the ring contained a numeric “five” to symbolize their 5th championship in a row. The diamond can be seen on the lower portion of the “5″.

There was speculation by championship ring collectors that only players who were there for all five championships received a ring with the “5″ on top, the rest received the standard World Series Ring. Well, this ring proves that must have been speculation and not correct. The player who was awarded this ring, was not there for all 5 championships, yet received the same ring as those that were there.

When the pictures arrived by email I was stunned. Although a select few 1953 original and authentic rings have hit the collector’s market, I have never seen the original presentation box that was given out with the ring.

Unlike today’s massive glass-enclosed championship ring presentation boxes, this box was made of leather and most were discarded over the last 60 years.

Tags: championship ring, championship rings, new york, New York Yankees, world series ring, world series rings, yankees

October 24, 2014


The Topps 2014 Whitey Ford card should have a real championship ring pictured on it, such as the one shown on the right.

What the heck was Topps thinking? Was the graphic designer being lazy? I have never seen a championship ring like the one shown in the Topps gold gems  autographed card shown above. In fact, I don’t think that’s a real ring at all!

It would have taken the graphic designer of this card only a few moments to find a real ring championship ring image on the internet. The card would have looked so much nicer with a real World Series ring.

While we are on the subject of New York Yankees World Series rings, all of the rings from the mid 1940′s through today were made by Balfour. A few of the early ones were made by Dieges & Clust.

Unlike today, the Yankees rings of the 1940s – 1960s changed very little. There was the format shown on the championship ring on the top right photo, when they won the World Series, and another version championship ring when they lost the World Series. The losing version, known as the American League Championship ring, showed their top-hat and baseball logo and contained three very small diamonds.

The one time the championship ring was changed during this time period was in 1953 when the team won their Fifth World Series Championship in a row. The Yankees 1953 World Series ring is highly rare and collectible. Winning five World Series has never been repeated by any team since. That World Series ring had a “5″ on top with a diamond inside the lower portion of the “5″.

Once the Yankee started winning more championship rings in the 1970s, each year’s ring was changed. However, the 1976 and 1981 American League championship rings are identical, except for the engraved year.

Tags: championship ring, championship rings, new york, New York Yankees, world series ring, world series rings, yankees