This went for big money, but was it real? Sockalexis Postcard

[packs]

Link: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=STRK:MEWAX:IT

This postcard went for some pretty big money today. However, I was not thoroughly convinced it was authentic. I did a ton of research, including going to the library to read biographies, and was unable to come up with any credible evidence that Sockalexis played on the 1907 Bangor team. I found a single reference to him playing for Bangor as late as 1903, but not for any time after that. By all accounts I found, Sockalexis should have been a logger and back on his reservation from 1907 to his death a few years later. The only accounts I could find of him being involved with organized Maine League baseball after his stint with Bangor in 1903 were as an umpire. With the lack of a manufacturer being named on the postcard, I stayed away from it. What do you guys think?

[rhettyeakley]

"It's real and it's spectacular"

It is real and one of the coolest PC's I have ever seen! Sockalexis has a special place in my life b/c I lived in Old Town, Maine for a year and spent the next decade living next door in Orono. I know who won the postcard and his snipe was set for SIGNIFICANTLY more money than it ended up going for so someone else would have had to really want it for to escape his clutches (I'm glad he won it!).

The Maine League was VERY small and no real attempt has been made up to this point to accumulate statistics for the league, which is why you didn't find much on it.

Awesome piece!

-Rhett

[3-2-count]

I saw it as well. It's very much real. Great piece!!

[packs]

If it is real, then it is a hell of a piece. In my research I did find out a lot about the Maine League. According to a lot of what I read, the Maine League was actually quite a league. One author referred to it as a "mini Major League" where most owners were potato barons who were very serious about their teams. In my reading I did find a lot of references to owners hiring ringers to play a few games here and there for drawing cards and for important games, so it is possible that Sockalexis did play briefly for Bangor in 1907. I was just frustrated I couldn't find any hard references to him being involved with the league that late in his life as anything more than an umpire. This postcard must be incredibly rare if authentic. He must have only been a part of the team for days, weeks at the most.

[Brian Campf]

Deleted

[packs]

That is exactly what my research had led me to conclude. Which is what is most confusing to me. Maybe the 1907 date is not accurate. Although I don't know why the wrong date would be featured on a period postcard. It has happened before though. The only references I found to him being involved with organized baseball after 1903 were as an umpire and as a coach at a small school that sent several players to the New England League. There was an article written as late as 1912 about him and it made no reference to him playing as recently as 1907. It could be real and there are much more educated people on this forum, could you guys weigh in as to what led you to believe it is a 1907 period postcard?

[rhettyeakley]

Sockalexis' doings after his time in "Organized Ball" are not well documented. It may have been that he was simply hired for a time as a coach (or ringer) of some kind. It is obviously a real divided back (1907 or later) postcard. I have read every biography of Sockalexis ever written and the last decade of his life is usually painted with a broad brush as there isn't much written from the time to go by in newspapers, contemporary accounts, etc., etc.

[DixieBaseball]

Rhett - Congrats to your brother on winning a superb piece !

[martindl]

Originally Posted by rhettyeakley

Sockalexis' doings after his time in "Organized Ball" are not well documented. It may have been that he was simply hired for a time as a coach (or ringer) of some kind.

Is there anything to be made of the caption? "Sockalexis On The War path" sounds like something you'd say about a coach or manager rather than a player. The players in the field have jerseys and he's wearing a sweater.

There again, is that a glove stuck up his sweater? For shagging balls or playing in a game?

Great postcard and a nice pickup for the lucky winner.