Moonlight Graham
 

Looking to add a "big card" to my PC and have been pursuing leads for a Moonlight Graham card. Any one of you guys have any ideas or leads? Willing to pay up for the right example and card.

Good luck with your hunt. Many of us have looked for his card and it is a hard find

I don't know of any cards other than his Rose PC (maybe Ryan can post his for an example), and there's a team card I think.

That is all I remember seeing as well. For most of us, we have to settle for the book or the movie to get our Moonlight Graham fix.

Brian

Here is the Rose Co PC - I know of two of them. There is also a team PC and a W601 (maybe 1907) of the Scranton team that has Moonlight. His stuff is crazy rare and, in my opinion, cool as hell.

Wow that is awesome

And crazy rare is an understatement

Thanks for sharing

Beautiful postcard Ryan. I wish that there was more Moonlight Graham stuff out there.

Hi everyone. Apologies in advance if this is already [well] known / has been posted, but I thought I would share.

Autographs of Moonlight Graham of ‘Field of Dreams’ fame are discovered at Baltimore medical school he attended.

Thank you.


https://www.baltimoresun.com/resizer...S5JVGCC2PY.jpg

Cool as hell
 

You, Kevin Struss and me. So at least three.

https://photos.imageevent.com/kawika...Graham%201.jpg

I picked up this 1908 Scranton team photo from REA a few years ago. Doc Graham is in the back row, second from right. The photobomber kid is not me. I had chores that day.

https://photos.imageevent.com/kawika...t%20Graham.jpg

This is the 1906 Scranton team postcard. Not mine. Scabbed the scan from the internet. (There is also a postcard out there somewhere with Graham and a crowd of Scranton teammates in an old open car. Don't have that image).

https://photos.imageevent.com/kawika...0-%20front.jpg

That's great stuff right there! Thanks for posting.

Great stuff and alot of jealous people here

Congrats on those items:):):)

Here is my Moonlight "fix".

I’m fairly certain this example was in a lot of Rose PCs in REA about 12 years ago. I was going to bid, and would have went 2x-3x times higher than the close bid but REA made no mention of it’s significance and at the time I wasn’t 100% sure it was him.

I have a W601 Scranton composite. I’ve seen maybe 4 or 5 of them since it was discovered that he was part of the team. That seems to be the most attainable of his cards / issues.

That is correct. I was the winner of that lot at the time and after the auction let the cat out of the bag. It wasn’t really a known thing prior to that as it had always been listed as “Peaches” Graham in all guide books.

If I see a Moonlight Graham available, I will outbid you!

Sent from my SM-S906U using Tapatalk

Ashenback’s Humor in the Minors, 1911 is a good book and nice Graham placeholder example.

Although It's Not iN the League of the forementioned,

& I'm Not so sure of what a "Big Card" is to most...

*I'm jus a humble Student of David's :)

I do hav this of Mr. Graham's to pass on to a New Collector...
I've been wantin' to put'em on the BST all this week!

Soon He'll be there ~

That is a great card and very scarce in its own right, but that is George "Peaches” Graham, not Archibald "Moonlight" Graham.

...perhaps he was also known as George "Moonlight Peaches" Graham? Which of course would then make it a suitable replacement for an Archibald Graham card.

Brian

would be great demand and many bidders beyond us. but i would hope i would outbid you :D:D:D

I saw a 1907-08 Rose Co. Postcard of Moonlight Graham, which shocked me. I thought there was a possibility that he was in this set since the discovery of several minor league player of the New York State League, but I don't think there are many of this particular card. Possibly just a handful.He also is in a 1902-03 team cabinet with Charlotte of the North Carolina League, a 1906 Scranton Miners team postcard and I believe a Sporting Life team postcard as well. I don't know who would have a copy of any of these and I've never seen any in person which I believe are rarer than a T206 Wagner.

Apologize for the slightly off-topic question, but does Moonlight's status above lots of other common players rest almost entirely on his inclusion in Field of Dreams? Did his cards carry a premium before the movie?

I for one, was not aware of his story before the movie came out, and even then, was not sure that his character was an actual player.

There was a recent thread about why certain players cards are more desired than others given similar on-the-field performance, and a major reason that came out was having a relevance to something outside of baseball. That seems to certainly be the case for Moonlight Graham, thanks to Burt Lancaster and Kevin Costner and WP Kinsella.

Ryan - The only Minor Leaguers in the 1908 Rose Co. postcard set are the 14 players from the Scranton Miners, who won the New York State League pennant that year.

I do not believe that he is pictured on a Sporting Life team postcard. AFAIK, only Major League teams are part of that set.

I read the Shoeless Joe novel (a great book, by the way) shortly after it was released in 1982, and I highly doubt anyone really knew about Graham before the novel. I don't think it was on collector's radar even after the novel was released. The Field of Dreams movie that was released in 1989 is what really brought him more widespread interest, but I still think it wasn't until the internet era that slowly unearthed and identified what was available for him (note sbfinley's mention of this REA lot of Rose postcards https://robertedwardauctions.com/auc...anton-players/ that had a Graham in it, without identification, actually less than 10 years ago), and only after all of this did Archibald Graham finally become something for many collectors to pursue/crave.

W.P. Kinsella really set this cornfield craze into motion. Heck, there have even been Major League games held in Iowa cornfields now, which just adds to the mythical luster surrounding Graham (and Shoeless Joe too).

Brian

So who won it?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/31436781333...rdt=true&rt=nc

Damn, at least let the stamps get applied. But it wasn’t me. Got blown out at the last second. It was crazy this thread started about 12 hours after I saw it. Wrong category, no mention… I thought it would slip by most.

This arrived in the mail today. Couldn’t believe it when it popped up on eBay, without even a mention of Graham… Looks even better in person. Not for sale/trade.

Looks beautiful! Congrats!!

Nice Andrew!! Now I can out that eBay auction you won it in!! Bring it to the trade show

Thanks, Brian!

Ryan, I definitely will.

Beautiful card Andrew. Congratulations.

Thanks, Kevin!

I've said it before, and it's always met with some backlash...

The huge interest, and especially the high values of anything related to Graham, will never fail to confound me.

People who are so enamored of him do realize that they're just buying into a half-fictional character as created by Kinsella and portrayed so wonderfully by (mostly) Burt Lancaster, right? Values of our collectibles are usually based on achievements or legends that actually transpired or may have happened. There's some basis in reality. The Moonlight Graham stuff that people so eagerly eat up simply sprang from the mind of an author of fiction. Beyond the fact Graham played in the Majors and was a doctor in Chisholm, MN, the rest is all Kinsella. The factual part of Graham's story is pretty typical and ho-hum. Yes, he was a kindly doctor and was remembered fondly by generations of children, but this wouldn't have affected collectability or value without Kinsella's intervention.

If Kinsella had thumbed through his MacMillan Encyclopedia and instead decided to craft a story around Kewpie Pennington, another Deadball Era guy who played in one game, none of the Graham diehards would have a clue who he was and his memorabilia would be of much more limited interest and value. Pennington had a cool nickname and only pitched one MLB inning with zero strikeouts. There's your story! "If only I could have struck one player out!". Same basic concept of a dream not realized, but now everyone is infatuated with the fictional legend of Kewpie Pennington!

I know, I know...but it was Moonlight Graham who Kinsella selected.

Everything you say is correct. But for most of us with an interest in such items (I'll speak for myself anyway), it is pretty simple. I love the movie, I love the story of the real Archibald Graham, I love the scarcity and aesthetics of the related items, and as a collector, would have gladly paid substantially more than I did for the postcard shown above. I'll save you the trouble of an eBay search, I paid $3,000. The prices such items command are simply supply and demand (like everything else), and there is a very low supply. If you don't understand the demand, I can get that. I don't understand the demand for lots of things in this hobby... At the end of the day, it is all just old cardboard, so do it because you enjoy it and buy what you like!

Andrew Finkelman

Incidentally, lest anyone think otherwise, I like Graham, too, but I love the stories of all MLB players! The most interesting life stories you might ever hope to find are often hiding behind the most obscure MLB careers! :) I suppose I like my player biographies to be of a non-fictional nature as opposed to anything otherwise. That one fact can likely explain my long-held position on Doc Graham.

Well said.

Yup, fully buying into the Hollywood myth. I could care less. I agree with Andrew 100%. And here are some pics from my trip to the real field of dreams, which was F-ing awesome! I highly encourage people to go - admission is only $20, as Terry Mann suggests

Your probably right. I thought it was a team composite which I haven't seen in a while.

Glad to see it is no longer the Field of Sideway Dreams.

Brian

If you can't afford a Moonlight Graham card, then get yourself this.

It's George Browne from the T206 set...He's the guy that Moonlight Graham replaced in right field that gave his his infamous moment in history.

No backlash here. I hear you and loud and clear. I have one Graham piece and it's very cool, but his fame is a fictional character and not as an actual ballplayer.
Personally I would not spend thousands on a Graham item. But I get the allure also.


QUOTE=BillyCoxDodgers3B;2314315]I've said it before, and it's always met with some backlash...

The huge interest, and especially the high values of anything related to Graham, will never fail to confound me.

People who are so enamored of him do realize that they're just buying into a half-fictional character as created by Kinsella and portrayed so wonderfully by (mostly) Burt Lancaster, right? Values of our collectibles are usually based on achievements or legends that actually transpired or may have happened. There's some basis in reality. The Moonlight Graham stuff that people so eagerly eat up simply sprang from the mind of an author of fiction. Beyond the fact Graham played in the Majors and was a doctor in Chisholm, MN, the rest is all Kinsella. The factual part of Graham's story is pretty typical and ho-hum. Yes, he was a kindly doctor and was remembered fondly by generations of children, but this wouldn't have affected collectability or value without Kinsella's intervention.

If Kinsella had thumbed through his MacMillan Encyclopedia and instead decided to craft a story around Kewpie Pennington, another Deadball Era guy who played in one game, none of the Graham diehards would have a clue who he was and his memorabilia would be of much more limited interest and value. Pennington had a cool nickname and only pitched one MLB inning with zero strikeouts. There's your story! "If only I could have struck one player out!". Same basic concept of a dream not realized, but now everyone is infatuated with the fictional legend of Kewpie Pennington!

I know, I know...but it was Moonlight Graham who Kinsella selected.[/QUOTE]

Thanks a lot...

Now I'm on a Kewpie Pennington hunt.

My neighbor was a pitcher in the Brewers organization. He got called up to the big team once, during September call-ups, but never got into a game. I don’t ask him about it.

Moonlight
 

Here he is again, back row, hatless.

The ears don't match...

Attachment 557628

Incredible Dave, that's my favorite Moonlight piece.

He has a 1919 Zeenut card. Just sayin'

Brian

The prior post about the Zeenut of Pennington reminded me of my post almost three years ago, pasted below, which surprisingly showed/revealed the six 1911 Obak cards of players who only appeared in a single MLB game.

Phil Cooney - 1905 New York Yankees 3 AB
Lee 'Flame' Delhi - 1912 White Sox 3 IP
Monty Pyfl - 1907 Giants 1 PA
Hunky Shaw - 1908 Pirates 1 AB
Dave Skeels - 1910 Tigers 6 IP
Con Starkel - 1906 Senators 3 IP

Brian

Hunky & Phil
 

One of my favorite real photo postcard pairings includes two of these fellows, Hunky and Phil. 1912 Spokane Indians, Northwestern League. Taken at Dugdale Park in Seattle. Love their road uniforms.

Dave, i love that 2nd postcard you posted with the players goofing around (especially Phil Cooney). Cool to see a candid shot of Native American William Cadreau, who played in the Majors briefly under the name Chief Chouneau. Probably the best images of him I have ever seen.

Those are really awesome Spokane team postcard photos Dave, and I love the team shot with Moonlight Graham, who just seemed to know he should keep his cap off to make himself easier to pick out 100+ years later.

Brian

[/QUOTE]Well articulated and duly noted. But, for me, part of the fun of collecting is being able to show some of my cards to non-collectors, and Moonlight would be a great one to show.

Sent from my SM-S906U using Tapatalk

Thank you. I'm happy to see many great responses to my thoughts versus the first time I mentioned anything years ago!

I fully agree with your point above, Al. The character of Moonlight Graham is someone that many people are familiar with, so sharing the real Graham's memorabilia would be of more interest to non-fans and non-collectors alike. You can also explain this entire backstory as we've been discussing: the real Graham and the magical, fictitious Graham.

For those that collect Graham's memorabilia (and we all know you're invested into it directly because of the book, the movie or both! :) ), it would make sense to also collect Burt Lancaster and W.P. Kinsella memorabilia. They are the ones that should truly be thanked for your fandom of the actual Archibald Graham and without whom you'd have never fallen for Moonlight memorabilia!

1912 Spokane Indians
 

Thanks, Rhett and Brian. It is fun to share those cards.

Here's another RPPC (rare panoramic this time) of the 1912 Spokane squad. Here's the players I can immediately recognize. I could likely ID more if I spend some time with it:

Phil Cooney: far right
Dutch Altman: 2nd from right
Cadreau/Conneau: 6th from right
Harry Ostdiek: 8th from right
Lloyd Zimmerman: 5th from left
Paul Strand: 2nd from left

Interestingly, If you look at the 4th and 5th players from right, next to Cadreau, they also appear to be of Native American heritage. Looking at the 1912 Spokane Indians roster on BR and/or Stats Crew, none of those names jump out at me as candidates.

Seems like a stretch to think they came to Spokane with Cadreau from the Fond du Lac Band of the Lake Superior Ojibwe in northeastern Minnesota. Been meaning to get a hold of a few folks I know that might provide insight, but haven't gotten to it.

Anyways, I love this card too. Sorry to briefly hijack the thread away from Moonlight!

You can't throw shade on Moonlight...he casts his own glow. Another great postcard Dave.

Brian

Dave those are amazing!

A ca. 1906 Scranton Minors pre-linen PC. Might the good ol’ doc be in right field?! The closest I’ll ever get to owning anything “Moonlight” related!

Moonlight “Doc” Graham signature
 

I wanted to share with Moonlight Graham collectors that our family recently discovered another Graham signature. In 1951 my mother was a senior at Chisholm High School where Doc Graham was the school doctor. That year, the yearbook was dedicated to him and my mother asked him to sign his dedication page. The signed yearbook will be auctioned at the MLB All Star Auction 7/11/2023.

Just getting around to reading this thread. I, too, am fascinated by the divide between those obsessed with Graham memorabilia and those who could care less. As an antique auto collector, I often relate sports to the car hobby.

When trying to grasp the Graham hype, think of the Delorean. The Delorean was a rather futuristic car when released but ultimately turned out to be a hunk of junk by a new car company that went down in flames. (Google John Delorean if you don’t know the story.) Nonetheless, if you were 7 years old when you saw Back to the Future like I was, it left an indelible mark on your childhood. To this day, when I see one, it evokes the feelings of seeing that movie and being mesmerized by the car. I would love to own one someday. The car collector in me knows it’s a hunk of junk, but the kid in me loves the memories it evokes.

For those who love Graham and his story, I’m sure he evokes the same emotions of watching the movie, and perhaps even falling in love with baseball nostalgia.
For those who are purely collectors, he’s a nobody who played an inning and should be valued accordingly.
Just my two cents!

Collecting is all about irrational attachments to material things. I don't see how an obsession with chasing a Moonlight Graham card is any different that chasing Eddie Plank or King Kelly or 1000s of other players who have no larger cultural significance today. Something speaks you or it doesn't. To chase tobacco cards of obscure players and then obscure backs of tobacco cards of obscure players makes no more "sense" to me than trying to chase a phone book from Chisholm, MN that has Graham listed in it.

One strange thing about Moonlight Graham that most people don't know because of the movie (and because of his Baseball-Reference page) is that he actually played two innings on defense, not one.

I wonder if his correct stats were known back then if he would have actually been the player chosen. It may have been Cy Neighbors used instead, as he actually did only play one inning in the outfield without getting a chance to bat. Neighbors actually got left out of some boxscores from his only game.

There sure would be an interesting story to be written about Harry O’Neill, should someone ever get around to writing it

Many aspects of the movie (preumably the book) that were totally wrong . . . really disheartening. Wasnt last game of the season. Didn't retire from baseball after the game. Etc. Etc. Why I have never watched the famous Gehrig or Ruth movies. When film people start making shit up to make it more "dramatic" I ask for my check.

I think some of the errors were just due to the available research at the time, though I don't know why the year he played was changed other than so he knew who the players were on the field...though I'm sure everyone here rolls their eyes when he knows who Gil Hodges is.

I think the one inning part really stands out because it seems important to the story. That's why it makes me wonder if it was known back then that he actually played two innings, would he still be the player they used? Let's face it, it wasn't easy to fact check the now known errors back when the movie came out. You had to go along with it.

I didn't realize until somewhat recently that he was actually a lefty hitter, even though I've been on his Baseball-Reference page countless times before noticing it.

Further proving the point that people continue to shell out large amounts of money for the memorabilia of a real person based on the collective love of a mostly contrived book and movie character. I hope people can realize that they're so enamored because of the talents of Burt Lancaster and Frank Whaley, along with Bill Kinsella. This Moonlight Graham love really has nothing to do with the real man who took care of school kids in Chisholm. The name's the same, but so much diverges from that point. I think it's preposterous, but there's no right or wrong way to consider the matter, I suppose.

Conversely, it makes perfect sense to me that people pay high amounts for anything to do with Eddie Gaedel. Yeah, he wasn't really an MLB player, but wait--he really was, and there's a contract to prove it! Yes, a publicity stunt, but all sealed up in a then-legal manner! Gaedel did take an actual at bat in a Major League game. What happened, happened. Those are the facts; his collectability derives from 100% true events. Funny to consider the outcome if Veeck hadn't signed him to a player contract. Say this stunt had happened in between a double header. Cain still pitched to Gaedel, Swift and Hurley still behind the plate. Everything was the same aside from Gaedel actually stepping into a game. He'd have been nearly completely forgotten about; barely a footnote. Very few people would have had any interest in his memorabilia which would carry extremely reduced price tags regardless of rarity.

Of course, unproven and sometimes laughably false legends can serve to inflate collectability and value of certain people's memorabilia. Usually, these tales are add-ons to proven events which are what truly brought the celebrity their fame. Until Bill Kinsella came along needing a groovy name for his book character, Archibald Graham languished in the near-total obscurity that some might say is deserving of such a modest baseball career. While a decent human being, the real Graham contributed absolutely nothing to drive the value and interest in his memorabilia to another stratosphere. Flip through your baseball encyclopedia; there's Graham after Graham after Graham. Perhaps not the same surname or stats, but a veritable ton of players with similarly minuscule MLB careers. Alas, Kinsella's index finger landed on Graham, and the rest is (one kind of) history.

The Delorean comparison as noted earlier has merit to a point, but then there are definitely differences. Yes, it's a hunk of junk, but the design was so representative of the era in which it was created. Let's also not forget its infamy due to the cocaine smuggling! It would still have ended up eliciting nostalgia for many people even if it was never featured in an iconic movie. Their value wouldn't be the same, but there would still be lots of interest and strong collectability as an anomalous, aesthetically pleasing piece of the 1980's.

You really can’t grasp someone being motivated by fact over fiction? This right here is what’s wrong with the world today. Fiction is given as much weight as fact. What freaking lunacy.

Ha. That’s gold. My views on collecting baseball cards just captured everything wrong with the world. In a few lines. Touché. Love it. Not sure I’ve ever been so proud of myself.

Uhhh...totally contrived piece here, but since we're on the subject of fantasy vs reality, here is the only "Moonlight" Graham piece I could afford.

The Fact that fiction can paint broader brush strokes of Truth in the human soul than Fact, as I'm sure you would describe it, can - is why myth exists. I wouldn't want to live in a world bereft of all the beautiful colors of imagination, myth and transcendent truth. But go ahead, by all means, enjoy your black and white-dom.

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

Well said.

Well to be fair it is a fictional movie, not a biopic.

I personally think a Moonlight Graham card is one of the coolest things to seek out In the hobby. I have zero problem knowing that is based on fiction more than fact.

I have enjoyed searching for Moonlight Graham items over the years. The hunt is what I enjoy the most about collecting sports memorabilia and as others have stated, it takes a lot of patience trying to find Archie Graham items. Living in MN, I also thought is was fascinating that Doc Graham spent his later years here. I have come to realize that as I get older, I love the story that each piece of memorabilia tells. And in this case, it has been an enjoyable journey separating fact from fiction and learning about the life of times of Graham.

Here are a couple that I have that I would be open to offers on, but it wouldn't be easy for me to let them go as it took many years to find them. Good luck to everyone on their hunt.

A lot of what we collect is motivated by emotion and some of that emotion is based in fact, some on nostalgia, and some on fiction.

Not sure why people have to chime in and tell those that collect a certain player that they are “irrational” or implying they are doing it wrong or that it is stupid.

Let people collect what they want, if you have a problem with how they do it you do not, in fact, have to chime in and let them know you do not approve.

Personally i don’t see much different between Graham and Ruth’s “called shot” that people are willing to pay a ton for anything related to that (likely) apocryphal story.

My 2-cents that nobody asked for 🤣

Steve,

No judgement here, but you never watched Pride of the Yankees? Even if some of it is dramatized, Gary Cooper gives an incredible performance. I understand wanting to separate fact from fiction though.

- James