Muhammad Ali signed SI cover

The Great Jack Dempsey and his sparing partner. ;)

Attachment 15032

Here's a card from a Churchman's set. As it says, it is American football. I always wondered if someone didn't have the actual photo that this card was made from. It's from a 1929 set.

I'm a bit of a type collector with memorabilia (as is my card collection) and I only really look for one piece to fall in love with and represent a sport.
This boxing title belt is attributed to Mike 'the professor' Donovan circa middle/late 1870's...

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A couple of pieces from my favorite all-time non-baseball athlete.

A pair of the Masters related memorabilia. c. 1970's a terrific signed Augusta scorecard (Par 3 course) and a guest badge from his historic win in 1986,

Attachment 22334Attachment 22335

And don't forget about the rain coats, umbrellas and rubber boots;)



That is a really great Sheiks sweater Max

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ePhoto1931.jpg 1931 Bronco Nagurski Comin at Ya!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...Fautophoto.jpg KC Jones USF
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...yWirePhoto.jpg Jim Brown MVP
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...a/P1040197.jpg Willie Shoemaker & other jockies
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...nshipPhila.jpg 1897 Natl Amatuer Bicycle championships photo finish!

non-baseball beauty
 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...a/P1040043.jpg 1889 tri colored gold rowing medal San Francisco Bay
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...a/P1040046.jpg

Michael Jordan Type I Original Press Photo 1989
 

Classic MJ streaking toward the hoop w/ tongue hanging out as 4 Celtic players converge on him.

Original, large single sheet soccer program for Belfast Celtic's first game on their tour of USA + Canada in 1949. This was for a game played in New York against a local select side:

http://i926.photobucket.com/albums/a...esgq/scan2.jpg

This was the first ever tour to the USA by an Irish soccer side. This game caused significantly controversy back home in Belfast as the Belfast Celtic side paraded the Irish tricolour at the ground before the match.

More significantly, the tour marked the last hurrah of the great Belfast Celtic side as, despite being the most successful side in Irish soccer history, they withdrew from domestic football that summer following political crowd trouble at a game earlier in the season. Most expected their withdrawal would only be for a year or two but they never came back.


My favourite match worn shirt:

http://i926.photobucket.com/albums/a...sesgq/blue.jpg

This is an Irish international soccer shirt from the 1920s, supplied to the team by the Athletic Stores in Belfast, a leading sports supplier of the era that still exists today. It is a heavy, woolen shirt. Until 1931, the Irish soccer side played in St Patrick's Blue rather than green.

Congrats
 

Wow Rick I'm so glad for you that you found that sign!.....it's a beaut and great bio of your uncle

Some Jim Jeffries and Muhammad Ali Items
 

7.5" x 9.5" [10" x 12" mount] mounted photo of Jim Jeffries on his farm in Burbank with his pup, with a handwritten copyright of 1906 By Jas. J. Jeffries and Jas. M. Johnson [perhaps the photographer], captioned "The Good Friends" in pencil on the mount:

http://photos.imageevent.com/exhibit...0on%20Farm.JPG

10.5" x 13" print of Jim Jeffries. The photographers' imprint at the bottom right is the famous Dana Studio in San Francisco. Judging from the look of the image, the imprint and Jeffries' appearance, I'd say this is a 1910 image shot of him at either the Hotel Rowardennan, near Santa Cruz CA, or Reno NV, when he was in training for the Johnson fight:

http://photos.imageevent.com/exhibit...20Jeffries.JPG

I collect fighter-issued promotional photos and related items. The 'holy grail' of such a collection would be an early Cassius Clay piece. Here it is, from January 1964, a month before he would win the title from Liston and 'come out' as a muslim under the name Muhammad Ali. Caption on the photo reads "Cassius Clay I Am The Greatest." The letter has the usual tri-fold for a regular envelope and in person you can see where the photo pressed against it. Both letter and picture have the preprinted Cassius Clay on it:

http://photos.imageevent.com/exhibit.../large/005.jpg

irish footballers
 

That is great stuff. I love the Irish sweater jersey. I saw a book on Belfast Celtic once in London. I thought I would pick it up later, but I didn't know how limited British book printing were. I never found again.

I would love to see more soccer items if you have any.

Yes, there have been a few books on Belfast Celtic published over the years, some better than others although all have had limited print runs. Not sure, but guessing that the store you saw the Belfast Celtic book at in London was Sports Pages? This was a specialist sports, mainly football (aka soccer), store here in London which unfortunately closed a few years ago.

I'll post more soccer items of interest when I return home to Belfast where my collection is housed (I live / work in London) as soccer is my main interest. I collect the Northern Ireland national team and two Belfast clubs (Belfast Celtic and Crusaders) but these days only really go for pre WWII items, esp photos but they are incredibly hard to find. However, I also collect some continental European items from the 1950s and 1960s across various iconic clubs - Real Madrid, Benfica, AC Milan & Internationale.

One book about Belfast Celtic that is easy to obtain is 'Paradise Lost & Found' by Padraig Coyle. It's on Amazon US for a couple of bucks in paperback:

http://www.amazon.com/Paradise-Lost-...9424034&sr=8-3

I read it a while ago, it's a good general history of the team, and the circumstances of their demise.

There's an excellent website about the team here:

http://www.belfastceltic.org/index1.html

There's a list of other books about them there too.

Still my favorite non-baseball SI since it came out the day I was born.

I wouldn't recommend the Padraig Coyle book at all.

The better histories are by Mark Tuohy (published in 1979 to mark the 30th anniversary of their departure from football and reprinted in 1989 at the 40th anniversary) and one written by John Kennedy, also published in 1989.

Both of these books are simply called "Belfast Celtic" which can cause potential confusion. The Kennedy book is less good on historical matters but is lavishly illustrated with period photographs of the team over itssix decades lifespan and is visually excellent.

Type I photo of HOFer Hap Day from 1937-38 season:

I'm back to my family home in Belfast, Northern Ireland for the Christmas period and thought I'd show some of my football (soccer) items purchased this year.

Original photos of Belfast Celtic from 1937/1938, 1940/1941 and 1946/1947 seasons. These were amongst the most successful seasons in the history of Belfast Celtic. The 1940/1941 photo is particularly poignant for me as in April 1941 (towards end of the 1940/1941 season), the city of Belfast suffered two particularly bad air-raids by German bombers which decimated much of the city.

The photos from 1940/1941 and 1946/1947 may not necessarily be considered "type 1" in a technical sense but they are original creations from the time. All three images were taken and mounted by R. Clements Lyttle, the then official photographic studio of the Northern Irish government.

http://i926.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps37fa6f29.jpg

http://i926.photobucket.com/albums/a...psab503450.jpg

http://i926.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps981a5f85.jpg



Also, showing a Northern Ireland (also known as Ireland) shirt worn in the international versus Scotland in the 1936/1937 season and the honourary "cap" awarded to the player. This particular player was Davy "Boy" Martin, a very famous footballer of the era. He was nicknamed "Boy" both due to his small physical stature and the fact he was a drummer boy in his teenage years (he was an orphan) for the Ulster Rifles (British army regiment). His career would ultimately end due to injury sustained in the Second World War.

The sports outfitters (Athletic Stores, Belfast) noted on the collar is still here but, after 100 years, the distinctive building on Belfast's Queen Street will soon be demolished to make way for apartments. All rather sad.



http://i926.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps50043b81.jpg


http://i926.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps17b22cd5.jpg

http://i926.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps9bfcd167.jpg




Happy Christmas to everyone from Belfast, Northern Ireland.

My complete set (series 1 & 2) of 1938 Churchman Cigarettes Footballers

Strange for a baseball collector, but a handwritten Johnson letter was on my short list. I learned a lot about him while researching the 1909-11 KC black baseball teams, looking for a different 'Jack Johnson', while reading through the 'Freeman'. The boxer was hugely popular and occupied half the print space in those old papers.

http://www.lelands.com/public/auctio...0937764000.jpg

This is a great piece! Not that strange as I have wanted a jack Johnson as well for awhile now. What a historic piece. The letter appears to be written during his fighting days too??(1915). Hard for me to tell as I am on my phone but either way, a fantastic addition to any collection. Me likey.

Thanks. He lost the championship April 5, 1915, to Jess Willard. This letter is dated October 15, 1915.

On November 25, 1920 (according to his wiki), he fought the 'baseball' Jack Johnson (who I am still researching) in Leavenworth, Kansas. There is some debate over the exact date or if the fight even took place.

Maybe Adam knows?

As someone who absolutely loves the baseball imagery, esp. through vintage photos, that many provide on this forum, I thought I'd show a few of the original football (i.e. "soccer" in US terminology) photos that I was able to pick up in 2012:

Portugal national side, pictured in Milan in 1928 before their match versus Italy:

http://i926.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps7569439c.jpg

Italian national side, pictured in Florence before an international match in December 1938. Earlier that year, they'd won their second World Cup in succession and were reigning world champions:

http://i926.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps0c9c37c5.jpg


Photo of Pele, the most famous footballer of all time, at the age of 18 shaking hands with the King of Sweden in advance of the 1958 World Cup Final in Stockholm. 90 minutes later Brazil would win the World Cup for the first time ever and the legend of Pele was born:

http://i926.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps42025bf4.jpg

http://i926.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps43460fd3.jpg


Original photo of A.C. Milan. Early 1910s:

http://i926.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps5c799aae.jpg

My most poignant photo obtained in 2012 is this one:

http://i926.photobucket.com/albums/a...psbfd5e5e0.jpg


http://i926.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps29bb512a.jpg


The photo, shot in Budapest, shows the Hungary and Italy players entering the field of play for their international game in 1949. The Italian players are wearing black armbands as a sign of mourning. It was in the aftermath of the Superga tragedy that had decimated the Italian national team (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superga_air_disaster).

I was also able to add this Real Madrid match worn shirt, with the legendary number 9, to my collection in 2012:

http://i926.photobucket.com/albums/a...psaca02a23.jpg

http://i926.photobucket.com/albums/a...psb1ad292b.jpg

Anyone know of anything special in the Nov. 24, 1928 game between Fordham and Georgetown at the Polo Grounds?
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