What was your best memorabilia addition to your collection in 2014?

[mjkm90]

This has always been one of my favorite posts of the year. It's an opportunity to reflect on finds we made as well as experiences during the year.
Post your favorite acquisitions from the categories you collect, which for me includes figural pieces, dishes, pennants, and pinbacks.

Without question this exceedingly tough Ralph Kiner represents my favorite pinback addition and is also the greatest bargain ($19.95) I've found on ebay


My favorite figural is actually a pair (hey we can make up the rules as we go right?) of Stanford Pottery Tigers



My favorite dishes are this pair of late 19th century plates



My favorite pennant is without question was this gift from my wife. Ok...this was my Christmas gift last year, but I received it AFTER we did our Best Of post for 2013 so I'm placing it here...LOL.

[Scott Garner]

Mike, I always like this thread too, because it's truly amazing to see some of the things that people come up with.

I was fortunate to have a great year for pickups, mostly due to my friends.
Having a terrific network of collector friends nets some great additions to a collection, and I am eternally grateful to all of those that continue to help me build my collection.

Here are some of my favorites in 2014:

Original Cy Young Day ticket stub from 8/13/08. The only one known to exist in the hobby. Many thanks to my close friend of 25 years Ted Sternemann for helping me find this in Milwaukee. It originated from the collection of long-time hobby good guy Mike Rodell's collection. Unfortunately, Mike just passed away in November after a long fight with cancer. RIP Mike!

1938 Johnny Vander Meer Day medal from his hometown of Midland Park, NJ. Many thanks to net54's Chris Gamble for allowing me to scratch this one off my list of wants. Chris is one of the nicest guys in the hobby and Cincinnati Reds collector extraordinaire.

Scored original program/scorebook from Johnny Vander Meer's historic 2nd consecutive no-hitter in 1938. Many thanks to David Maus for locating this for me, also a top want on my want list.

Several other personal items that became available in 2014 from the family estate of Johnny Vander Meer. Amongst them were his Birth Certificate, Notification of Separation from the Navy at the end of WWII, and a great photo of him pitching in the Army Navy Pan Pacific World Series in 1944.

Finally, on the Nolan Ryan collecting front, the original dugout lineup card from Nolan's final career win # 324 at Cleveland on 8/15/93.
Many thanks to net54's Randall Hahn for tipping me off about it's availability on eBay.
Yup, it's been a pretty terrific year!!

[yanks12025]

Scott,
Not sure if you saw. But in the next heritage premium auction they have a game used baseball from one of Vander meer no hitters.

[vintagesportscollector]

I am still holding out hope that the best is yet to come for 2014....I'll post on 12:01 on 1/1/15.

[3-2-count]

Tough choice, but I'd say this circa 1915 original Cracker Jack trolley sign.



Now framed.

[kdixon]

Zach Wheat wire photo and notebook.

[mjkm90]

Originally Posted by vintagesportscollector

I am still holding out hope that the best is yet to come for 2014....I'll post on 12:01 on 1/1/15.

Atta boy Joe

[Runscott]

Every time I post something like this, which is of no interest to more than 2% of the forum, I think it would be great to have it broken down to something like pre/post wwii or similar.

Picked this up in February and it's probably my favorite item in my collection, primarily because my girlfriend and I attended the game and remember several of the plays it was used in, including this Baldwin 69-yd kick-off return.

In the vintage arena, this 1900-ish glove was easily my favorite pick-up:

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by yanks12025

Scott,
Not sure if you saw. But in the next heritage premium auction they have a game used baseball from one of Vander meer no hitters.

Brock,
I knew that Heritage had it, but did not know what auction it was going to be in. Thanks for the heads up!

[matty39]

Additions to my federal league collection.

[ngrow9]

Originally Posted by matty39

Additions to my federal league collection.

Great Federal League pieces! I picked up a couple smaller items for my FL collection this year.

[Exhibitman]

Well as long as we can make it up as we go, and excluding cards and card-like items:

Favorite BB item: 1955 Koufax photo after his 1st big K game:



Favorite FB item: 1966 Chicago Bears Dick Butkus team issue:



Favorite boxing item: 1915 Benny Leonard by Hall Studio:



Favorite basketball item: 1960s Dolph Schayes signed premium:



Favorite hockey item: 1964 Terry Sawchuk photo:

[jbsports33]

1907 Cornell Baseball Large Baseball Photo

[vintagesportscollector]

Originally Posted by jbsports33

1907 Cornell Baseball Large Baseball Photo

I would love to see a pic...I've been know to collect a few Cornell items .