19th Century Baseball Memorabilia
 

Since my collecting interest is in 19th century baseball and memorabilia is becoming a greater interest for me, I thought it would be nice to see some. Please post your 19th century memorabilia and ephemera and the earlier the better. I have posted an item I just acquired and showed on the July pick up thread to get the ball rolling. It is a ticket to the " Fourth Annual Hop" of the Newark Base Ball Club and is dated 2/15/1860.

Here's my oldest piece, an 1865 Leslie's Illustrated woodcut picturing James Creighton (top oval, center) & Henry Chadwick (far right oval, center):

Here is my 1889 Trophyball and 1850's-60's Railroad Bat. Looking forward to this thread.

I love these old woodcuts...

Very nice Connor, Doug. What year is that issue?

Base Ball Game - 1885; National League Ball Game - 1890
 

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y20...g?t=1311538498

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y20...g?t=1311538610

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y20...3/tn_004-3.jpg

Hi Gary - one of the things I collect - BB board and actions games.

Base Ball Game - H.H. Durgin, 1885 - is one of the oldest I have.

And 2nd - National League Ball Game - Yankee Novelty Co. - 1890

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y20...g?t=1311539014

Early stuff...

Few more...

Last Batch... sorry if a few bleed into the early 1900s...

I have a few of the pieces Mark posted, but here are a couple non-repeats.

http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q304/mjkm90/002.jpg
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q...0/IMG_0725.jpg
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q...km90/ak120.jpg


not sure about the dating of this one
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q...0/IMG_0722.jpg

Great stuff!
Perez Fan ( Mark? )- Is that silver cup from Rochester NY? I live very close and am curious about the cup's history. Thanks.

Gary:

Below is the link to the write-up from Hunt's. It does not specify Rochester, New York, but I would guess that it is indeed from that Rochester. The engraved initials above read "N Y S J A A" and I would assume the "NY" portion makes reference to New York. I would also guess that the "AA" portion stands for Athletic Association. Not sure about the "SJ" in the middle. I really don't know any history beyond what Hunt's put in their description...

http://www.huntauctions.com/LIVE/ima...=877&lot_qual=

Despite the lack of information, I was attracted to the piece for its detailed and ornate artistry, aesthetic beauty, and the fact that it somehow remains Near Mint after 116 years! Sorry I cannot be of any help on the event that it commemorates :confused:

Now throwing out a guess on the engraved initials... New York State Junior Athletic Assn. (NYSJAA).

Thank you, Phil.

Jan 20, 1889

Some of our 19th Century pieces...
1. 1860's-1870's era, rosewood trophy bat
2. 1887 Base Ball Championship trophy cup
3. Circa 1870's tin type
4. 1898 Copy of the Boston BBC history
5. 1875 Program with baseball graphics

A few more...
1. Circa 1875 Ward B. Snyder Mfg. baseball bat
2. A second leather bound bat dating to the late 1860's- 1870's.
3. Catchers mask with Ashland B.B.C written in on the throat guard
4. Lemon Peel Ball
5. Figure 8 style ball

Those leather-bound bats are way cool. Nice stuff! :D

Some 19th Century Images...
1-2. Tin type images of uniformed ball players
3. 1889 West End Team Studio Portrait
4. Circa 1880's image of the Wesleyan College Ball Club
5. 1893 West Point (USMA) Ball Club

Jonathan- Here is a circa 1868 Wesleyan University CdV to go along with your Wesleyan College image. Note the bases as well as the pitcher's plate and a round home plate in the photo. I believe this is one of the earliest images to show the bases and plates.

I can only offer a muffinfrom 1867 to start

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/216/5...ad8698ed_z.jpg

Great image, Gary...I love full team images and ones from the 1860's are terrific...the equipment is wonderful.

I don't have too many early items but here are a few photos

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...ST/tintype.jpg

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...allTintype.jpg

And me in my NY Gothams uniform (we play baseball using the rules and equipment of 1864). :)

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...09g5_6503c.jpg

http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...09g5_6517c.jpg

Ben, that's very cool. Is the ball you use dead? If so, what's it like to hit?

Thanks, Mike! The ball is a bit larger than a modern ball but not quite as hard. It's probably about as a hard as a clincher softball. We use the same ball for the entire game so it does get softer by the end. If you make good contact you can give it a ride though!

To help you get an idea of how the ball can travel we played two games at Doubleday Field last year and I was playing left field. Nobody hit one over but I was catching balls about 25 feet from the wall (it's 296 feet down the left field line). So guys were hitting the ball 250 feet +.

Here's a couple of mine. 6 1888 scorecard covers and an early Kansas dual team photo. If you look closely at the team photo you can see presentation cases for a baseball and bat.

Clint - Those scorecards are beautiful.
Doug

Thanks Doug.

Clint- I second Doug's comment. Those are great Cincinnati scorecard covers! Quick question, though: have they been cut from the full scorecards?

All best,
Charles

Charles, yes they are just the covers unfortunately. On a side note the guy I bought them from said they came from the comedian Jonathan Winter's estate. He didn't have any documentation to back it up but I don't think it would have added any to the price. Kind of neat though.

I'm pretty sure that Jonathan Winters is still alive. :D I wonder if he just had those scorecard covers lying around or if he is/was an active collector of baseball memorabilia?

here are a few of mine. there are other things mixed in.

and a few more.

and a few to finish up. thanks

Kevin, I really like those crescent gloves and ring bats. Thanks for sharing.

Dan, I just looked Jonathan Winters up and he is still alive. I didn't know that. I guess he did the voice for Papa Smurf in the new movie. That guy is hilarious. I wonder if he was a collector too.

19th century
 

Mine can be seen here:

http://loefflerrd.webs.com/19thcenturybaseball.htm

A favorite photo
 

I have had this photo for about 12 years. It is a favorite because of both the image and the story on the reverse:
Attachment 43291

Attachment 43292

a couple bats...
 

Hello all. In disbelief, I just picked up the Victor ring bat this morning at an antique show.....Both bats are 34", heavy and sweet!! I love how the barrels slightly narrow toward the ends. I could be wrong, but I think these both qualify as 19th century. The Spalding may be close, or am I wrong?..........Matt

Matt- Great pick ups on both bats! They both look awesome! Spalding is probably a few years after 1900 but very nice anyway.
Matt

Sweet
 

Nice pickups Matt. I wish i could find items like that up here in Canada, but every where i go i don't find much at all.(mostly hockey)

Clint, thanks for letting me know about the scorecard covers. Just wanted to check because there are a few scorecard "proofs" floating around, where only the cover was printed. However, I have only seen such "proofs" of Strobridge scorecards, and not the Fennessy & Renau accordion-style ones.

Your six covers make a great group! Thanks for sharing!

Charles

The Victor Logo is my favorite baseball bat logo of them all. Nice score Matt!

book...
 

1893 Book, The Young Lieutenant, with a Baseball adn Football motif.

Same here... and it looks even nicer, surrounded by those rings! Awesome pickup :D