This check was signed by legendary baseball executive Ed Barrow on July 6, 1953, just one day before he was admitted to United Hospital in Port Chester, New York, on July 7, 1953. Barrow, the longtime New York Yankees front office boss and Hall of Famer, made the check out to Kensico Cemetery, the same cemetery in Valhalla, Westchester County, where he would later be interred after his death in December 1953. Barrow’s burial in Kensico places him among many baseball greats and cements his legacy both on and off the field.
Ed Barrow was one of the most influential executives in baseball history and a central architect of the New York Yankees dynasty. As Yankees general manager and later president, he helped build teams that won 14 American League pennants and 10 World Series championships between 1921 and 1945, assembling legends such as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, and Mickey Mantle. Earlier, he also managed the Boston Red Sox to a World Series title in 1918, giving him championships both as a manager and an executive. Barrow’s lasting impact on roster building and organizational structure earned him induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1953, the same year this check was written.