Advice appreciated: Bought item from auction house - realized listing had mistake
 

Hey all,

Would appreciate some advice.

A little while back I won a baseball at auction from SCP with the title: OCT. 6, 1945 NAVY ALL-STAR BASEBALL SERIES (AMERICAN VS. NATIONAL LEAGUE) PROGRAM AND TEAM SIGNED GAME USED BASEBALL W/ STAN MUSIAL (SCHEFFING COLLECTION)

The implication from the title and listing was that this was the final baseball pitched in the final game of the Navy All-Star series.

In researching the ball I realized that the score written on the ball (4-3) does not match the date on the ball (October 6th) but is actually the score from the game on Oct. 5th (the 5th game of the series.)

Based on this I think it is safe to assume that the date on the ball was a mistake (or written the next day) and this is not a game-used ball from the final game, but a ball from the game before. (Interestingly, technically the series was clinched in game 5 but they played the following day anyways.)

I don't know how others feel, but to me the final GU ball carries more significance than a ball from the second to last game and I believe this affects the value a bit.

I was wondering whether there was something to be done about this. The auction ended close to a year ago, and I'm not looking to return the ball, but I do believe it very well might have ended for cheaper if this information was accurate.

Thanks in advance.

http://catalog.scpauctions.com/bids/...e?itemid=27209

Writing on the ball reads" Last ball used in the Navy League National (4) American (3) Oct. 6, 1945 Navy

Honestly, something this niche, I don't think it affects the value very much, if at all, unless something really remarkable happened in that last game I'm not aware of.

They appear to be suitable companion pieces one way or another, though I understand it is disappointing finding out much later on the inscription was inaccurate on the baseball.

Dave,

Thanks for the response.

To me the significance is that it was (to the best of my knowledge) the last major game at the end of the war. In some ways I had viewed this baseball as "ending an era" of WWII baseball. Not sure if I was the only one who saw it that way lol.

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If it was World Series ball, it would make a huge impact on amount of bidders and final price.

You could contact the auction house to see what they would offer. Sometimes they would give you 10 percent back for bad listing.

I once brought a frame picture of Dummy Hoy but it came as Dummy Taylor, I felt that Hoy had more impact than Taylor. They said, they will refund me and re-list at next auction. I was so afraid that it will attract more bidders and underbidder next time.

Your ball is such a beauty for 650 dollars. I wouldn't risk returning and win it for few hundred off.

I guess we all need to do our homework before putting bids on :)

Enjoy the ball!!

Thanks for the response.

I have no plans of trying to return the ball, just wasn't sure how I felt about it.

When it comes to research, the WWII games are very confusing.

According to "When Baseball Went to War" (which was put out by the National WWII Museum) they played 7 games, with the NL winning in 6. According to the website Baseball in Wartime, they only played 6 games. (The website is "missing" Game 5 which was a 4-1 victory for the AL according to the book.)

Given the pieces I've seen I am now inclined to believe that game 6 may have actually been on October 6th, and the website is missing a game (hard to imagine that the book mistakenly added a game and somehow "knew" what the score was.)

If this understanding is correct, Oct. 6th was technically the "final" game of the series since the NL clinched the series and the 7th game was simply a scrimmage game because the tickets were sold.

It seems that this would have been the last real organized baseball of WWII.