Harwood Baseball Mfg. of Natick, Mass.

[jpop43]

Thanks, Carlton and Steve,

I did get a message out to the Natick Historical Society and hope that they are able to confirm the "signature" as I am already quite sure that the image is indeed of Harrison Harwood.

What I did take note of on the print itself is that the engraver, A.H. Ritchie, was renowned in the field in the mid to late 19th century and did many engravings of famous people and events...Washington, Lincoln, Continental Congress, etc.

So, I wait for some info from Natick, Mass. and hope that I've got a genuinely signed, 19th century print of the man who founded the very first company to manufacture baseballs in the United States.

Jonathan
www.dugouttreasures.com

[perezfan]

This seems like a good place to post a recent related pickup of mine (with a big assist to Scott G. for finding it).

It's a circa 1906 Letter from Fred Ratsch to Tip O'Neill, congratulating the "Hitless Wonder" White Sox for their Championship Season, and offering the team a Pennant to commemorate the event. Ratsch has ornately signed the letter at the bottom.

This is similar to the great Harwood pieces above, in that Ratsch Peerless was a key Sporting Goods Company of the day, perhaps most famous for manufacturing the unique "Duckweb" Glove.

[collectbaseball]

Originally Posted by jpop43

I did get a message out to the Natick Historical Society and hope that they are able to confirm the "signature" as I am already quite sure that the image is indeed of Harrison Harwood.

One time I emailed the archivists at a Swiss university in an effort to find information about one of their departments from the 1920s (mainly looking for mundane things like schedules, lists of professors/lecturers/enrolled students, etc). They provided me with some basic info already on record, but also said they had the [thus far uncatalogued] papers of one of the professors and I was welcome to 'stop by' and go through them

Anyway, if you get a similar response but distance is an issue I would be happy to go there and investigate for you. I'm always up for a good treasure hunt and live right down the street.

[jpop43]

Much appreciated...I I do hear from them I might need to take you up on that!