1953 Wire Photo: Roy Campanella, Jackie Robinson, Pee Wee Reese, and A Turkey Dinner (PSA Authenticated)!

This is definitely one of the more unique items in my entire collection but it's also one of the absolute favorite things I own and I like it even more after looking it over in-hand. I spotted this item up for auction in one of the daily searches I run on Roy Campanella and thankfully the bidding stayed reasonable enough that I was able to lock it down.

My first wire photo! One of the major selling points was the PSA slab -- much thinner than I anticipated -- as I wasn't at all familiar with wire photos and how to figure out whether or not they were original and time-appropriate as opposed to reprints from the 80s and beyond.

The biggest selling point though, of course, was who was featured in said wire photo. My main man Campy joins forces with Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese in an epic display of Dodger greatness. The photo is from 1953 (Roy's second of three MVP seasons!) and depicts then Dodgers' GM Buzzy Bevasi hand-feeding Pee Wee a turkey leg as the other two guys look on.

The photo goes into great detail to describe the scene. All three players had just signed contracts with the turkey dinner part of their bonus. Looking at the salaries each would make is also fascinating to me and this wire photo tells us Jackie and Reese would make $40,000 a piece while Roy would reel in a cool $25,000 for his efforts. It's an amazingly cool addition to my Campy Collection.

Here's the back and I really like that the holder describes what each type of photograph is. This is a Type III; per PSA, it's "a 2nd generation photograph, developed from a duplicate negative or wire transmission, during the period (within approximately two years of when the picture was taken)."