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Posted By: Corey R. Shanus

The Declaration of Independence is just a document yet because everybody knows what it is it would sell for a fortune. The problem with a lot of baseball publications/documents in my view goes deeper than people not reading as much or liking their items to be more visual. To really appreciate them and therefore be willing to spend the big bucks people need more of a knowledge of baseball history, particularly 19th century baseball history. Take the Pocket Companion Barry refers to. How many people know that that is the first book (excluding team constitutions-which were not publicly distributed) devoted exclusively to baseball and that it deals directly with the rules under which the game was to be played (the New York game versus the Massachusetts game), which at the time was hardly a settled matter.