Earliest piece of baseball memorabilia - Pictures - Pre-1880 only, 18th Century Wins
 

Earliest piece of baseball memorabilia - Pictures - Pre-1880 only, 18th Century Wins

This will not be the earliest, but here's an 1867 book Baseball as viewed by a Muffin

http://farm1.staticflickr.com/216/52...ad8698ed_z.jpg

This is my earliest.

Max, please tell us more - I'm dying to learn how a 'Muffin' views baseball :)

+1

On the cover is a 5 sided lemon peel. I'll post my 6 sided lemon peel baseball later. Anyone ever seen another. Here are photos of the 11 1/2" ball.

These are images of what is believed to be a bat used to play rounders (one of the precursors to baseball) in England in 1832. Note how it was intended to be held with only one hand, which is consistent with Peverelly's description of a rounder's bat being in the form of a policeman's truncheon.

Look at that homerun stance in 1835 -

Corey- according to David Block's research, baseball actually predates rounders.

Fair, but I was referring to the "modern" version believed to substantially take shape in the 1840's.

12,500 BC :eek:

Lol:D

A Muffin might look for morning glory, but in 19th century terms, was a name for a fan.

I did recently see an ad for this book in a MA newspaper. As you can see however, the add refers to a "Muffer", which presumably only Mr. Sloate is able to define.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7275/7...cfd973d9_o.jpg

Corey- the elaborate painting on the bat is beautiful.

Corey- that is a great bat. Thanks for sharing with us. You know, you are the one mainly responsible for this whole memorabilia side, so I am glad you are being more involved lately. I don't collect 19th century anymore since I downsized the collection a bit.....but I did keep one card from the era. Shown many times but still goes well in this thread..

Incredible items. Great card.
Love the rounders bat and that six peel lemon peel; unbelievable.
The rounders bat may be the earliest surviving bat of any sort in existence - now that my private offer was rejected, I will publically glorify the bat :o
This is my earliest bat - I believe it to be the earliest, or among the earliest, game-used bats (non-trophy, actually used) that survive to date, c. 1850-1860. Given its large size of 34 inches, heavy weight, and emblems, I believe it was used by a member of a professional club. It's post 1840 as it is thicker than town ball, and it is not a child's bat (as you may know, baseball was, with limited exception, a child and teen sport pre-1840). Wish I can find more on the "E" emblem and "SVS" initials; have done much research but have not been able to find anything. The bat had a vertical grain separation that was repaired by Cliff spectacularly.
Also has a knot in the barrell which I love - players of the era viewed a knot as a positive because of how hard knots are, believing they would hit the ball harder and further.
I would sell the bat, so please feel free to PM if interested - I will even give you an asking price and not make you come up with an offer!
I purchased the bat at the Atlantic City National in 2002; I was told it came out of a house on a large property/farm in upstate New York.

19th Century Memorabilia
 

Great thread...thanks for getting this one started as early equipment and memorabila remain our primary and most enjoyable area of interest.

Here are a few pieces of printed material/images in our collection that fit the pre-1880 criteria.

1. Although just a fairy tale drummed up by the Mills Commission, Abner Doubleday is still very much connected to the mythology of the game. Here is an original Matthew Brady portrait of the Civil War General.

2. Nice, studio posed CDV of a late 1860's-1870's era player.

3. Double paned tin type image of two ball players. One action pose and one seated.

4. Single paned tin type depicting two uniformed players.

5. Program for a day of sports that included Base Ball from Euclid Ohio in 1875

www.dugouttreasures.com

I wonder what O'Fake sounded like.

19th Century Memorabilia
 

Some of our 19th century bats.

1. Circa 1860's/1870 silver plated trophy bat. This 35" bat is made of dense, heavy rosewood and features two very nice, engraved silver adornments.

2-4. Circa 1860's- 1875 era baseball bats. The handles of these bats are bound in leather and using a number of images from the 1860's and 1870's, we can quite definitively date them to this period. The bat on the bottom is specifically shown in a sporting goods catalog that dates to 1875..."leather wrapped willow bat".

19th Century Memorabilia
 

Our circa 1850's- 1860's era lemon peel balls...

Check out the entire collection of 19th Century Memorabilia at our website...www.dugouttreasures.com. We recently published a book that contains our entire collection...it can be previewed and purchased thru the website.

I always wondered if O'Fake was one person named O'Fake or a group of O'Fakes...Oh, well.
Here's one of the earliest baseball CdVs known and a favorite of mine. It's as much a piece of Americana as it is a baseball image.

Definitely not the oldest piece. But it's my oldest.

Gary,

That has always been one of my favorite CdVs.

The "Club" Bat was actually used much more recently than 12,500 BC. Here's a pennant that portrays its use well into the 1910s :p

That is AWESOME

lol PERFECT Mark!! :D

Letterhead from Harwood, 1860's. They were supposedly the first commercial manufacturer of baseballs, and the first to manufacture the modern style ball instead of the lemon peel balls.

I had 2 partials like this and one full sheet, almost legal size paper. I kept the complete one. Surprisingly I didn't get much for the other two, enough that mine ended up being free, but not as much as I'd thought.

Steve B
http://www.net54baseball.com/picture...pictureid=7077

Bat
 

Here's a bat that dates to the 1860-70 period. It is 31" long, weighs 39 oz, and is made of cherry wood. Nice example of an early ball knob.

John

Silver baseball from 1875.

This 1867 New Bedford scorebook dovetails with Max's book (Hi Max). Same year and same location. Contains several games from all of the teams around the New Bedford area. I've never seen the contents inside of Max's book but it would be interesting to see how it relates to the scorebook. ;-)

Rob M.

Attachment 67159
Attachment 67158
Attachment 67160

I foolishly sold that scorebook before I bought the Muffin book :)

I'll check the inside of the book and see what references there are (the book is entirely cartoon images, with little text, as I recall)

I think I also once owned that New Bedford scorebook (or something very similar).

I believe a muffin in 18th century base ball lingo refers to a rookie or an inexperienced player, not a fan.

The stereotype of the ballplayer in 1867 was that he was rough and tumble and would likely be battered from head to toe due to the roughness of the game. The cartoon illustrations in the book reflect this in a humourous and exaggerated way.

And I should add that the "muffin" was most susceptible to injury, as he was as likely to be hit with a batted ball as he was to catch it.

I seem to have got my muffins and cranks confused. I should spend more time reading the books, rather than just looking at the covers. It is interesting the ad notes "muffer" instead of muffin, and I don't recall that reference before.

Max

Everything posted in this thread is cool, but I really love this 1835 image of a batter.

My humble contribution is this cabinet featuring a very early catcher's mask. Like other items in this thread, this one has been owned by a few members, but I think it's found a long-term resting place:

For some reason I've always loved that 1835 illustration. Perhaps it wasn't the best idea to be pitching from 5 feet away though...

1866 cdv
 

While I'm not 100% certain this CDV dates from 1866, A.G. Spalding's book "America's National Game" and the Boone County Historical Society as combined sources suggest it would be. The Belvidere Il. Mystic BBC was formed on April 19, 1866 and lost to the Rockford Forest City BBC 123 - 8. After that loss the Mystic's merged with the Belvidere BBC and took the name Phoenix and played the Forest City BBC in 1867 losing 24 - 16.

Funny! :p

Early Base Ball tickets in my personal collection
 

Certainly not as grand as some of the early Base Ball items presented in this thread, but here are a few early Base Ball tickets in my personal collection.
Enjoy!

BTW, congrats to those that contributed to this thread. Some of the items in your collection are amazing! :eek:

Here's my earliest baseball, an 1870's early figure eight ball. Smaller and lighter than regulation baseballs, with a definite "dead ball" feel.

Cracking up

Execptional pieces here - love that scorebook :cool: