Here are a nice pair of baseball andirons recently sold at REA;

http://www.robertedwardauctions.com/.../2005/679.html

It would be awesome if your piece had a pitching counterpart! Hadn't thought of bookends but your right; a lawyer in KC, lots of books.... hmmm. As far as the year of manufacturing, my uneducated guess would be 1920's-40's (probably not wartime).