This 1953 Vic Wertz St. Louis Browns Detroit Tigers MLB Bowman Card #2 is the exact item you will receive and has been certified Authentic by REM Fine Collectibles.

Victor Woodrow “Vic” Wertz (February 9, 1925 - July 7, 1983) spent 17 seasons as a Major League Baseball first baseman and outfielder for six different American League teams, but gained his greatest fame in baseball history as being on the delivery end of “The Catch” by Willie Mays in the 1954 World Series. 

The Detroit Tigers signed Wertz as an amateur free agent in 1942, and after serving in World War II, returned to the Tigers (1947-1952, 1961-1963) to begin his big league career, before joining the St. Louis Browns/Baltimore Orioles (1952-1954), Cleveland Indians (1954-1958), Boston Red Sox (1959-1961), and Minnesota Twins (1963). 

While with the Indians, Wertz crushed a ball approximately 420 feet to deep center field at the Polo Grounds … a ball famously hauled in by Mays via an on-the-run, over-the-shoulder catch. 

During his career, Wertz ranked in the Top 10 in the American League in home runs for several season: 1949 (20), 1950 (27), 1951 (27), 1952 (23), 1953 (19), 1956 (32), and 1957 (28). 

His 1956 homers total was the second-best in the league. A four-time All Star (1949, 1951, 1952, 1957), he ended his career with 266 home runs, 1,178 RBIs, a .277 batting average, a .469 career slugging average, and a .364 career on-base percentage.