December Pickups

[Topnotchsy]

Really thrilled to acquire a couple of exceedingly rare Negro League-related tickets.

1)

Interracial barnstorming went on throughout the early years of baseball history. The biggest rivalry was the Bob Feller All-Stars vs Satchel Paige All-Stars, culminating in an extensive tour over after the 1946 season.

But before Feller was Dizzy Dean. For a number of seasons, teams led by Dean played against Negro League teams. It even appears that this is how Feller was introduced to interracial play.

Items from the Feller vs Paige tour (esp 1946) are available on the market with some searching (especially the program with the orange cover). Items from other barnstorming teams (Jackie Robinson All-Stars, Roy Campanella All-Stars etc) range in scarcity, but turn up at times.

To this point, in years of collecting interracial barnstorming related items, I had only ever seen a picture of a Dean vs Paige program and had never seen a ticket.

This Press Pass was for a game at Wrigley Field in 1942. Interestingly, Bob Feller was supposed to be pitch for Dean All-Stars but was blocked from doing so by the military (where he had enlisted). Dizzy Dean pitched the first inning and retired the side, but did not continue after that. On the other side, Satchel Paige pitched either 6 or 7 innings depending on the reports. He exited the game with the score 1-1, and was followed by another future HOF in Hilton Smith. The Monarchs team would score 2 more runs to win 3-1. Another HOFer in the game was Willard Brown.

2)

Ticket from the 1947 Negro World Series between the NY Cubans and Cleveland Buckeyes at Yankee Stadium. This was officially the first game of the series because the first effort on Sept 19 at the Polo Grounds was rained out as the teams were tied after 6 innings. One fascinating fact about the series. The Cubans won 4-1 and there was a rainout, so there were 6 total games. Every game was played at a different park:

Game 1 - Polo Grounds
Game 2 - Yankee Stadium
Game 3 - Cleveland Stadium
Game 4 - Shibe Park (later known as Connie Mack Stadium)
Game 5 - Comiskey Park
Game 6 - League Park (home of the Cleveland Spiders at the beginning of the 20th century, and the Buckeyes' home park.

The NY Cubans won the series 4-1. Some of the biggest names in the series included future HOF Orestes "Minnie" Minoso, Luis Tiant Sr, Chet Brewer, Dave Barnhill and others.

There is a small tear on the top of the ticket, but overall it looks beautiful.