Show your Cooperstown/HOF memorabilia
 

It's induction weekend at the Hall of Fame -- let's see some vintage artifacts from Cooperstown and the Hall of Fame.
I just purchased this check signed twice by Elihu Phinney (the son) who owned the cow pasture where legend says baseball was born (emphasis on the word legend). Phinney's farm would eventually become Doubleday Field.
It's the only piece of Phinney memorabilia I've ever come across, so I was happy to add it to the collection.

Greg

Evers...
 

Not the best pic from a camera phone but for a pinback collector, this one is hard to beat...
<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z228/andypcl/evers_zpsa6gez4bv.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo evers_zpsa6gez4bv.jpg"/></a>

Letter and envelope tickets to fly to Hall of Fame to get inducted were sent in.
Zachs lifetime Hall of Fame pass, signed Otesaga Hotel bill, Hall of fame game ticket stub and Zachs Hall of Fame lapel pin.

1962 Pennant

Great stuff guys -- amazing Wheat items Kenny!

Here is one of the handful of road signs that were put up at the entrances to Cooperstown for the 1939 induction -- one of my favorite pieces. It has metallic reflective paint, so the flash makes it look a little strange.
Also a nice broadside for the 1953 induction of Dizzy Dean and Al Simmons.

Greg

Love the sign.

http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q...IMG_1710-1.jpg

This is a pretty rare pennant I picked up at the National few years ago⚾️😄

that directional sign is just
 

well
FANTASTIC!!!

http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/y...psa6d22efc.jpg

I have about 10 of these from 1839. They originated from the building two doors down from what is now the Hall Of Fame. And 1839 is certainly a fairly important year for the city...at least as part of the myth anyway.

Tom C

That looks great Tom -- the year is clutch.

What did Robbie donate to earn the lifetime pass?


Greg

Actually, we received three lifetime passes, one for me, my brother, and my Mom:

Two mid-grade but raw duplicates:
T3 Orval Overall
1933 Goudey Lefty Grove

and the only one I regret giving up at all:

1928 Harrington's Babe Ruth

-also raw, but not a dup

- the visit was absolutely priceless, so it was easy to donate these cards. I now own three graded Babes so I'm mostly over any regret (still don't have another Harrington's though)

Mom was already in somewhat failing health so not having to wait in line was very important.
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Tip for donating: You may not have to give up as much as I did to get a Lifetime Pass, but they do not accept just anything...it has to be something they do not have on display.

The beauty of that selectivity is that, even though they do not display their full inventory of cards all the time, but rather rotate them, there is always a chance you may get to see your donation displayed. Some of you regular visitors may have actually laid eyes on my Babe. Cool, huh!!
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Raymond (aka 'Robbie')

Great story Raymond. Thanks. I always wondered about donations.
Drew

Thanks for sharing that story Raymond!

Here are two of the frames that housed the player plaques back in the early days of the Hall --Speaker and Sisler ( I also have Fred Clarke, not pictured). Their names are written on the front and the back, because they would take the plaques off periodically to clean them and they wanted to make sure they got put back on the correct frame.


Greg