My Holy Grail!....After 30 Years.
 

A big thanks to Brock G. for helping me pick up the one item I have sought after for so long - a pre-1910 Cornell Collared Baseball Uniform. Worn by Edwin Hamilton "Ham" Hastings on the 1906-1907 Cornell baseball teams. As if that were not enough, it includes his Cornell baseball coat!!

I have since been in very close touch with his granddaughter (who is now 74 years old) and who originally sold it to Brock. She has provided me with a treasure trove of information about "Ham" and the Hastings Family - including an original large cabinet photo of him in uniform, other copies of family photos and records, and a copy of the Hastings family lineage record with many pages of family history dating back to the 1700s. The Cornell library archives has also helped fill in some of the history of Edwin Hastings and his days at and following Cornell.

I have added much if this to my website where you can find a link to the Hastings page.

https://www.iyellcornell.com/highlights

Happy to share this with you all.
Best,
Joe

That jersey is sweet and the coat is even better. I have a number of early Minnesota Gophers jerseys, but not a collared version. Congrats on the pick up.

Holy Grail
 

Congratulations! Now THAT is a baseball collectible, what an accomplishment!-

Trent King

Beyond spectacular Joe. Congrats!

Holllllllllllly cow. That is beautiful.

Awesome Jersey ! The background stuff is awesome too.

Congrats on obtaining your Holy Grail. Enjoy hearing stories like this!

Congratulations, Joe! The research on your website is fantastic, too!

Wow!:eek: That is pretty awesome! Congrats!

Congrats Joe! Super cool additions to your collection.
Just curious, why Cornell as a focus? Did you graduate from there?

Thanks all for your comments! Putting a story behind an item is what drives me. These pieces wouldn't mean half as much to me, if I couldn't put a name and a face to it - in this case much more than that! I love the newspaper accounts of Hasting's playing ball - in one game against Harvard scoring the games only run, the winning run, on a Squeeze play in the 10th inning, and then being carried off the field by the crowd.

Hastings played on the 1906 team coached by Glenn S. "Pop" Warner and assistant coach Hughie Jennings...can you imagine! That team was ranked second, and the following year, under Coach Coogan, they were intercollegiate champs (tied with Princeton).

I love discovering background stories...on my "What's New?" page there is a 1910 baseball picture of Bill Matchneer, and accounts of him being hit in the Face by a baseball and being hit by a Train...all in the dame day!

https://www.iyellcornell.com/copy-of-cornelliana


Thanks for letting me share.
Cheers
Joe

Kudos on a fantastic addition to your collection! Now that you have landed your white whale what’s next?

Thanks Scott. I did graduate from there, that is where my wife and I met and started are family. We have two wonderful adult daughters. I love history and sports...as some may know I have/had the website - antiquesportscollector.com

That site was created in 2004 and is now so obsolete I can no longer update and maintain it. I will keep it up as a reference for others, but it can't be updated, and it was time for a new site. I have since sold off most of my non-Cornell sports collection (uniforms, bats, gloves, trophies, balls, etc...) and downsized to an apartment, but have kept all the Cornell pieces and continue to focus there. My wife is really supportive in allowing me to display in our apartment.

As for now catching my white whale...that has only given me more drive to find other pieces and learn their history - but there is great sense of piece and accomplishment that I don't have to go overboard. If I miss an item, so be it, there will be others.

Thanks
Joe

Great stuff, Joe! Congrats again on your White Whale pickup.
These are always great & I can totally relate. ;):cool:

Great pickup and story. Major pickup!

Side note my high school son first choice for college is - Cornell for
Biological Engineering in College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

The jersey, coat, and photo are all amazing! Congrats on a "holy grail" addition!

Great pick up Joe. Really love the coat and I’ve always wanted one of those!

+1 Agree very nice pick up Joe

Wow! Congrats!

Wow what a great story, that Jersey is in terrific condition, congrats! And beautiful display of memorabilia behind it. Neat too looking thru your website, thanks for sharing!

p.s. I can't think of Cornell without thinking of Andy ...
https://i.imgur.com/6qoXSDi.jpeg

Congrats Joe, that is spectacular!!!!

Congrats on a fantastic pickup! Those are the moments that keep us collecting.

Congratulations Joe. Finding your holy grail is truly amazing! That is just incredible!

Bob

Congrats Joe, WTG on checking off a box on your collection hit list !

Coolest post I have seen on here in a long time! Congrats man.

wow
 

Great story! Congrats on your white whale!!

.

Congratulations Joe!

What an incredible pair of acquisitions.... Can't decide whether I like the Jacket or the Jersey better. Let's call it a tie. :rolleyes:

Articles like these have become so impossible to find... much less the specific team you are after. Thanks for sharing your fantastic pickups!

581. Whale Grail
When a pick-up is so epic that neither “White Whale” nor “Holy Grail” comes close enough to describing how magnificent of a grab it is.

See also: Gloatation Device - a card or piece of memorabilia so monumental that not a single person will ever take exception to the owner loudly boasting about it.

Congrats!!!!!!!

Totally awesome, Joe! I love the focus and uniqueness of your collection. Have fun!

Thanks!
 

Thank you all again for the very supportive comments. Much appreciated! I will continue to update my site with new items and posts, so come back and check it out if you have an interest.

In honor of March Madness and the 50th anniversary of Title IX, I am resurrecting an item I have had for some time, but now appreciating it more for it's uniqueness. A c.1915 Women's Basketball Club pennant. I added it to my "What's New" page.

https://www.iyellcornell.com/copy-of-cornelliana

Cheers!
Joe

Wow!!! Congrats, Joe. Long time coming. Your persistence pays off. Very happy for you.

Amazing pickup, congrats!

Absolutely awesome pickup!

I would be first on the wait list if someone like Ebbets Field Flannels started selling a wearable replica of that jacket.

Well, someone has to comment on that amazing pennant. Incredibly cool and obviously scarce… I (for one) would not want to play her one-on-one. She may have been the basketball version of Leah Thomas back in the day. An awesome and imposing looking gal!

Oh, man - that is awesome!

I keep my eyes open for various ephemera from my alma mater (Williams) and I do have some "old" uniform items from the 1950s and 1960s, but those Cornell items are museum pieces!

Nice!

What an amazing piece Joe. Love it. Congrats!

+1 agree

Great piece

Congrats Joe!
 

That is a true "needle in a haystack". Having landed an item I was searching for, for 30 years just a year or so ago, I relate to the sense of "peace". It is also a bit bittersweet as the search being completed leaves a bit of a void of what to search for! Super excited for you!