Killer find on Ebay

[Shoeless Moe]

I may have made the find of a lifetime on Ebay. At least my personal lifetime. To find hidden gems on Ebay requires hard work, luck, sellers non-knowledge of what they have, and an error on their part. In other words the Perfect Storm.

They listed this under Signed Photos. Big mistake. And the "signed" part may have knocked out any potential last minute snipers. More on that in a sec. So by listing this in the wrong category it eliminated pretty much any and all vintage baseball collectors. That helped me emensely.

I knew there would be last second bidding as always. The bidding was at $30 with under a minute to go. I normally wait until under 10 seconds to put my bid in, so as not to allow anyone to counter in time if I take the lead. But for some reason (I was anxious) I put my bid in at 12 seconds and good thing I did early cuz anyone familiar with buying signed items knows there is that screen that pops up let u knowing about the authenticity of signatures, blah blah blah.

So I had forgotten about that, but luckily clicked off it quickly and hit bid. If any of the competition were waiting til the last second that may have startled them and delayed getting their bid in on time. So more luck my way.

I enter a bid of $1200 and win the item for $76 dollars!!!

Game Used 1917 World Series Chicago White Sox vs New York Giants ball.

Now seeing this ball on Ebay you can never be sure if it's authentic and I knew that, but the seller did have a 7 day return policy, so I knew I was covered if it turned out to be fake.

Ball arrived today NDA and couldn't wait to open and determine if the ball was real or not. I've done research on Game Used World Series balls, some of which have appeared in Heritage and Lelands auctions. I have owned balls from the deadball era as well.

The seller also said there was writing on the other side of the ball. I couldn't make it out from the picture on Ebay, but was obviously hoping for a Shoeless Joe signature or something. Well I'm not that lucky. I wish. But the writing while faint in spots did seem to spell something. The last 3 letters were an obvious "rty". So I was hoping that was a last name of a Chicago player, but doubted it as I'm fairly familiar with their lineup, but went to Baseball reference .com NOTHING. So then I go chek out the Giants lineup. Bingo. 1 player. Lew McCarty.

I take a 2nd look at the ball and now I see Lew and the partial McCarty. So I'm stoked. Backup catcher for the Giants on the 1917 roster. It gets better.

I look at his bio, he died in Reading, PA. in 1930. A 1 hour drive from where the seller bought the ball in an estate sale. Yah yah I know the infamous estate sale ball. Well this seller I won't say his name but has a name like Orville and is very old and runs a floral shop with his wife, so I have no reason to think he would lie. So honest seller, who buys from estate auctions then sells on Ebay, they are out there.

So I find it so neat that the NL ball came from the East (makes sense), but to find that it came from an hour, possibly less, then where it the player lived and died to where the seller purchased reinforces any doubt.

So I then searched back up catcher Lew McCarty's WS stats, and he only saw action in 3 games in that series, and 2 were in Chicago, so that would have been an AL blue & red stitched ball, he played in only one game in New York (red & black stitched NL ball ), the 6th and final game!!!! I believe he took this ball from that deciding game 6 of the 1917 World Series! How friggin' neat is that, to be able to narrow it down to the exact game.

I am 100% certain this ball was used in the 1917 World Series featuring Shoeless Joe Jackson and Jim Thorpe.

I may send it to auction one day because I love the chase as much as I love owning stuff, but for now I just sit and stare at a ball most likely hit by and thrown around by Shoeless Joe Jackson. Today....Today....Today.....I consider myself the luckiest collector.....on the face of the earth.

[batsballsbases]

Paul,
thats a nice find if it turns out to be what you say it is. I to love to look in funny places for the items that I collect on ebay . many times I have also been rewarded! It takes patience and alot of fun work! Nice find and enjoy it!

[Shoeless Moe]

Yah I'll take it to Heritage or one of the other big guys next time they are in town to get their opinion, just for more piece of mind, but I really have zero doubts. And believe me years ago I paid a pretty penny for what turned out to be a fake Gehrig card. I knew it was fake when it arrived and trashed it, as I purchased off Ebay and had no recourse.

So yep if this looked fake at all it would eat at me, but I will sleep well tonight too many indicators showing the possession arrow going my way.

Here are a few I found through researching auction houses:

http://sports.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=704&lotNo=19652

http://sports.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=7041&lotNo=81298

http://sports.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=710&lotNo=19865

[slidekellyslide]

Awesome! Congrats Paul.

[BrandonG]

Are there any visible Spalding logo's remaining on the ball? If there is even a hint of the bottom panel Spalding circle I could determine if it is the correct ball for the date range for you.

[Shoeless Moe]

and thanks Brandon - please take a look

[mjkm90]

That is a terrific story and amazing find. What a thrill it must have been I would NOT have been sleeping well due to the anticipation.

[thekingofclout]

Yep. I concur with everyone else Paul. Congratulations on a terrific pick-up!

[Scott Garner]

Nice job, Paul. What a great story to finish up the year!!

[Shoeless Moe]

Thanks again Brandon (and thanks all) for your opinion and knowledge, I really respect(went on to your Site, now I need to buy one of your books, do you show balls from that ERA in therr and can I paypal u the money for one if so, or how do I get one?).

Ok, so I barely got any sleep being so excited so I go onto Baseball Reference again and I had no idea you can click thru and see the actual boxscores of game on there, whatta Site.

So look at that attached of what it showed about my new favorite prewar player, who I never heard of prior to yesterday Lew McCarty. His only at bat in the Polo Grounds in the Series was pinch hitting in the bottom of the 9th.

So I am just stunned seeing this. I am just picturing this in my head. The White Sox were up 3 games to 2, they lead going to the bottom of the 9th 4-2. HOFer Urban Red Faber is on the hill, he hits the 1st batter in the bottom of the 9th, if he doesn't hit him, in retrospect, McCarty doesn't get a chance to pinch hit. Just amazing. Tying run now at the plate. I can feel the tension and excitement of the Polo Grounds fans.

So man on 1st, Faber gets the next 2 batters. Next up is the pitchers spot, but McGraw inserts Lew McCarty in his last hope to save the Series for New York. McCarty grounds to HOFer Eddie Collins to Gandil. Series over. Does Gandil then flip this ball to McCarty?????

I know I obviously can never prove, but believe me 2012 will be dedicated to buying old newspapers & magazines from that Series. I just wonder if that was baseball ettiquite back in the day, when the game was over to flip the ball to the home team. Or was, as he was known a tough mean SOB, Gandil being a jag bag and flipping the ball to him as a show of victory over the defeated Giants.

And what if McCarty came thru and the Giants rallied(top of the lineup would have been up next) and won, forced a game 7, and won. Then do Shoeless Joe and the boys throw 1919 since they then wouldn't have had a Series under their belts.....ok I'm dreaming and rambling.

I took the ball to work with me today, I'm fixated, we're gonna have lunch together : )

[RichardSimon]

Paul - Great pickup but a question, maybe I am missing something but you said the item had 10 watchers.
I thought that info was only available to the actual seller of the item.

[Shoeless Moe]

Deleted

[thekingofclout]

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[RichardSimon]

Paul,
Thanks for the information. I am surprised that info can be found by anyone, as I thought that was private information available only to the seller. But I guess with the technology out there, anyone can find anything.

[yanks12025]

Is there a way to check other items not shown or just the ones they have listed.

[Shoeless Moe]

Originally Posted by yanks12025

is there a way to check other items not shown or just the ones they have listed.

removed

[yanks12025]

Yeah, cause I tried searching acouple auctions I'm watching and they dont show up. Maybe that means not many people are watching them. Thanks for the tip

[thekingofclout]

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