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Posted By: Alan Elefson

Hi-
I collect baseball memorabilia because you can still find items reasonably cheaply at flea markets, antique shops and antique auctions, places you rarely find similarly old cards at. A few weeks ago I won a Cobb 1920s store model bat very cheaply at a local auction, but pictured below is my favorite type of item to collect. It is an Oliver Optics Magazine from May, 1869 and it shows a boy with a bat and a game in the background on the cover. I paid a dollar each for this one and an earlier 1869 issue this past Sunday at a flea market. Each issue (I have many) has the same cover, limiting their value, but I love owning a piece like this from the dawn of professional baseball (scanned below is a small article about goings on in the 1869 season) for only a dollar. Also shown below is another page in the issue advertising an American edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland including a sketch of Alice and the Cheshire Cat (my favorite character) as well as the White Rabbit. This is only four years after the book was first published. When you collect memorabilia, you never know what you are going to find!
Alan Elefson
aelefson@hotmail.com