February pick-ups
 

Huntley and Palmers Biscuits baseball postcard in very good condition. Circa 1878-1880

Hey David,

I've always loved that trade card image...
Great pick up!

1945 Navy All-Star Game Program. Only given to the fleet.

Just got this 1914 Baseball Magazine to add to my Matty collection.

I posted this on the card side, but it belongs here.
1878 Tecumseh trophy ball.

Gary,
Wow, that Tecumseh trophy ball is in incredible shape for how old it is.
It's amazing that something like this could have survived for over 144 years and look this pristine.

Congrats!

Congratulations Gary! I know you’ve been looking awhile for that. Great ancient baseball!

Gary...That's about the best looking trophy ball I have ever seen, Congrats!!!

1880 Trophy Ball
 

I won this in the same auction as the above trophy ball

Great silver ball, Bob.

amazing trophy ball gary. you win feb.

Alabama boys!
 

Early baseball players of Montgomery, Alabama. One of the earliest images of baseball in the Deep South and within the state of Alabama.

An amazing piece!

Supplement
 

Not in the best condition but a piece that I have been chasing for a while.

So it was you that snagged it off Ebay last night! :D
Great Pick-up Bob, congrats!


Brent

Thanks Brent, I thought it was going to go for a lot less until about an hour left in the auction when it shot up quickly but, I was happy with it for the price I won it for regardless.

The guy selling this also was selling a full Cobb decal bat that went cheap as well, I thought it was a $3k piece personally.

Congrats, I had to bid too early, so you and I didn't get to go at each other in the final seconds.

I put in a single bid about 2 1/2 hours before the auction ended.

Then two other guys put in a whole bunch of bids each as they decided it was too pricey for each of them.

Then a third guy put in a bunch of bids, finally passed mine, and put in one more bid just in case.

Then you swooped in and took it.

Congrats again.
Doug

This was my consolation prize...

I was a bit surprised that it went as high as it did as well... but what a great piece, and worth every penny in my opinion Bob. This will fit wonderfully into your collection.

Thanks
 

Thanks Brent, I agree, I was a bit surprised that it did go as high as it did as well but still glad I won it. I plan on getting it restored eventually.

Shibe Park trio of seats
 

Snagged these in the Huggins & Scott Auction. happy to add to my ballpark seat collection.

A recent pick-up from Scott Brockelman Auction . . . an attendance receipt from an early Detroit game. The receipt dates to May 12th 1883 and chronicles New York's share of gate receipts.

In 1883, NL ticket prices were 50 cents with 15 cents (30%) of the ticket price going to the visiting team. The May 13th Detroit Free Press helped me understand why there are two line items that differ in price/cost share. On May 12th, Detroit ran a first time promotion, a "Boys' Day", in which a dime would get the "little folks" into the ball park.

The Detroit Free Press box score indicates 2,270 in attendance with over 600 "little folks". The attendance receipt documents very similar numbers of 1517 adults, 622 kids, 2139 total. While George Watson, Detroit's treasurer, awarded 30% of each adult ticket to NY (per NL rule), he split the kid's tickets evenly (50%).


1517 adults X 15 cents = $227.55
622 kids x 5 cents = $31.10
Total = $258.65

Detroit's share would have been $562.50

http://www.net54baseball.com/picture...ictureid=26510

On a side note, Dick Burns would beat John Montgomery Ward (New York's pitcher) 9 to 5. This was one of only two wins for Dick in 1883 as he went 2-12.

Nice Shibe seats, Randall! :)

Love the seats and at good price.

Nice pick up. I had a bid on that, thought it was a cool item.

Unusual early photo
 

Picked this odd photo of a drawing circa 1870’s I think, up from the recent auction of some of Mark Rucker early photos. There are over 40 drawings, mostly of players, depicting some sort of baseball action, or inflicting some pain on the poor injured player.
Aptly entitled The Close of Ball Season, the photograph is by A B Gardner of Utica, and the drawing is by C S Sayler also of Utica. There are no gloves, no mask and an underhand pitcher shown. I believe Gardner was active around 1873 but merged with another photographer and moved in the early 80’s.
A few of my favorites include the ball crashing through a window, a group of players giving him a headache by beating a drum and hammering him, and the depiction of an artist and photographer.
If anyone can provide any information on the photo, photographer or artist I would appreciate hearing it.
Sorry upside down.

A small group this weekend.
 

Visited my monthly flea-market/antique show today and picked up a few cool things.

- a 1960’s era Saskatoon Hilltops football pennant
- a vintage Bellingham WA football player photo with mount stand (love the three point stance)
- a 1957 copy of Horse Sense with Dodgers and Yankee gambling stories and photos including Mantle, Robinson etc.
-and old football
-two WWII print Editons of Time, one with Mel Ott and one with Don Blanchard in the cover
- 3 cool Draper & Maynard scorecards.

Mail Day!
 

Picked up this really neat Louisville Slugger advertising Spline bats! I have never seen any "real" information on these, and was always told they were only made available to Major League teams to try out.
Two of the pages were signed by H&B guys, so that is pretty cool too!

Picked this Homecoming program up .

Really interesting info on the spline bats. Are those known to have been used in MLB games?

Some people have told me that some did get used in MLB games, but I have not actually seen any conclusive evidence of that myself. Maybe one of the other Net54 experts would know.

Mail day (sort of)!
 

My buddy was on vacation, and found this AWESOME postcard. Knowing I love Maine baseball, he called me, and we made the deal with the guy! I got it yesterday.

I love the colors. I wonder if any of these guys played in the MLB; if anyone knows, I would love it if you shared with me!

Sean,
Van Zandt, p could be Isaac (Ike) Van Zandt, who played for the Giants (1901), Cubs (1904) and Browns (1905). He pitched during his stint in the New England League (1902-04) and died in Nashua, NH, in Sept. 1908, so easily could have been playing in Portland earlier that year.

Hey Sean, Great Postcard. Curious if you have any images of Bill Jones? He also went by Billy and William. He lived most of his life in Millinocket and after his baseball career owned an insurance company with his brother there. (Jones Brothers Insurance) Jones played parts of 2 seasons with Boston Nationals. (11&12) Let me know if you've ever heard of this player.

Cheers, Marty.

No, he is not on my list. Was he born in Maine, or somewhere else?

Sean

Van Zandt actually was in Lynyrd Skynyrd....oh wait that's Van Zant...disregard.

Great postcard!! The Mohawks are not listed on Baseball Reference, but for your other ME questions, here is their list of Maine minor league teams and, where they have them, their rosters (which denote which players made it to the majors):

https://www.baseball-reference.com/r...=ME&country=US

He was born just over the border in New Brunswick, but lived in Maine most of his life.

Thanks for the information everyone!

And yes, Lynyrd Skynyrd did cross my mind. :D

Although, I thought SABR indicated that Van Zandt was playing in Albany and North Adams in 1908. But it is suspicious that the name is unusual, and they are both pitchers...

I will add the Canadian guy to my bucket list! :)

Rojas
 

Happy to add this bat to my collection....All Star bats don't turn up everyday. Bat is unused as Cookie Rojas never made it into the 1973 All Star game but still I consider it a nice collectible.

Oh, that is gorgeous!

That is awesome! What auction was that in?