1914 Single Signed Buck Herzog ONL Ball

[rholmes]

Single signed Buck Herzog on a correct Spalding ONL Tener baseball dating to 1914, which was Herzog's first year as the manager of the Cincinnati Reds. The inscription is to Harry Stephens, the Reds club secretary, who played a significant role in bringing Herzog to Cincinnati as player-manager.

Full Herzog inscription: "To My Friend Harry Stephens / from Chas. L. Herzog / Mgr. Cinci B.B.C."

There is another notation on the ball in a different hand that is mostly non-decipherable (Begins "The first...") and the score "Cincie 10 - Chicago 1", along with the (very faint) date "April 14, 1914", which likely makes this a game ball from opening day at Redland Field and Buck Herzog's first game as manager. I would guess that the ball was perhaps presented to Herzog by the players, who in turn presented it to Stephens in appreciation for his role in Herzog's move to Cincinnati.

The ball is in great shape. The panel with Herzog's signature and inscription is bold and completely legible. It can't be seen in normal light, but under blacklight it looks like the Herzog panel of ball at some point had a very light coat of shellac (?) applied to it, which preserved the panel really well. Again, this can't be seen at all under normal light. The rest of the writing on the ball is very hit and miss. "Cincie 10" can be see fairly well..."Chicago 1" is faint but readable. Faint traces of the word "manager" can be see at the end of the writing that begins with "First". "April 14, 1914" is very faint, but can be just made out. A lot of the secondary writing on the ball is just a ghost---where ink used to be but has faded completely leaving a white outline of the writing.

The John K. Tener / President stamping is excellent, which is rare as these red stamping tended to fade away quite easily.

Comes with JSA LOA for the Herzog signature.

Rare single signed Buck Herzog with significance to his career and Reds history, on a rare ball!

$3500 obo

Please PM or email with interest.

Thx,
Ray

semloh00 (at) yahoo.com