Old Baseball Scrapbooks

[jingram058]

I have 18 of them. 12 of them came from eBay in years past. The cover the gamut...tobacco, pre-war, post-war, the newest being early 1970s. Many were literally in tatters when I got them and had to be moved to newer archival means. Up until recently they could be had very cheap compared to other old baseball memorabilia and cards, but now, these too have gone through the roof. What 2 years ago could be bought for $10 or $15 is now $150 to $200. But there is all sorts of interesting stuff in them.

[CobbSpikedMe]

Those are awesome James. Looks like a lot of fun to look through them all to see what people back then wanted to record and remember in their personal scrapbooks. Thanks for sharing the images.



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[Rhotchkiss]

Are you happy or unhappy that they have gone up so much in price (seems x10)?

[jingram058]

Well, it's like everything, price-wise. You can still pick them up for $25, but not the ones loaded with memorabilia. But I guess it had to be. Sellers have become cognizant of autographs, Wheaties panels and what not, even if they are glued in. It's like with my cards and baseballs and all the other memorabilia. I have no intention of selling any of it, but who really knows? These old scrapbooks just add something to the old cards, I think, yet another window into what baseball was like. What the era was like. Everything put into them was done decades ago by young fans, I would imagine. Some of them were done with a lot of care. One of them documents Joe DiMaggio's hit streak basically day by day. Another is an accounting of the Memphis Chickasaws (more commonly Chicks) of the Southern Association the year they won a Dixie Series championship. Another has all kinds of stuff associated with Lou Gehrig and his illness, including the entire text of his speech at Yankee Stadium. Another has all kinds of newspaper clippings and magazine articles about Pearl Harbor as well as baseball, and even the big bands of Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw and all the others. How do you put a price on things like that? Surely, much more than $25, so they had to stop practically giving them away. I just am fortunate to have them.

[CobbSpikedMe]

Originally Posted by jingram058

including the entire text of his speech at Yankee Stadium.

Very interesting. Curious if the speech was handwritten or a snippet cut from a newspaper or magazine? It would be very cool if it was handwritten in there.




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[jingram058]

Originally Posted by CobbSpikedMe

Very interesting. Curious if the speech was handwritten or a snippet cut from a newspaper or magazine? It would be very cool if it was handwritten in there.




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It's cut from either a newspaper or a magazine. It's virtually the same as Gary Cooper's from the film, but... slightly different. Hard to say for sure, but I think it's the actual Lou Gehrig speech.