Earliest piece of baseball memorabilia - Pictures - Pre-1880 only, 18th Century Wins

[SetBuilder]

Originally Posted by GaryPassamonte

This is my earliest.

I wonder what O'Fake sounded like.

[jpop43]

Some of our 19th century bats.

1. Circa 1860's/1870 silver plated trophy bat. This 35" bat is made of dense, heavy rosewood and features two very nice, engraved silver adornments.

2-4. Circa 1860's- 1875 era baseball bats. The handles of these bats are bound in leather and using a number of images from the 1860's and 1870's, we can quite definitively date them to this period. The bat on the bottom is specifically shown in a sporting goods catalog that dates to 1875..."leather wrapped willow bat".

[jpop43]

Our circa 1850's- 1860's era lemon peel balls...

Check out the entire collection of 19th Century Memorabilia at our website...www.dugouttreasures.com. We recently published a book that contains our entire collection...it can be previewed and purchased thru the website.

[GaryPassamonte]

I always wondered if O'Fake was one person named O'Fake or a group of O'Fakes...Oh, well.
Here's one of the earliest baseball CdVs known and a favorite of mine. It's as much a piece of Americana as it is a baseball image.

[novakjr]

Definitely not the oldest piece. But it's my oldest.

[benjulmag]

Gary,

That has always been one of my favorite CdVs.

[WWGjohn]

Here's a bat that dates to the 1860-70 period. It is 31" long, weighs 39 oz, and is made of cherry wood. Nice example of an early ball knob.

John

[ksfarmboy]

Silver baseball from 1875.

[ramram]

This 1867 New Bedford scorebook dovetails with Max's book (Hi Max). Same year and same location. Contains several games from all of the teams around the New Bedford area. I've never seen the contents inside of Max's book but it would be interesting to see how it relates to the scorebook. ;-)

Rob M.

1867 scorebook 2.jpg
1867 scorebook 1.jpg
1867 scorebook 3.jpg