The Wee Willie Keeler Letters

[JimStinson]

Thanks and very interesting about the journal, as it was a nephew who possessed the letters , maybe it was the same nephew but if he cut loose one seems like he would have cut loose the others. Keeler was unmarried and had no children so his brother would have been his next of kin upon his death.
Willie Keeler once owned a considerable amount of New York real estate but was almost penniless and sharing a NYC apartment when he died
_____________________
Buying and selling Vintage autographs
jim@stinsonsports.com

[JimStinson]

Found it , it sold for $83,000 in 2010 , there were other Keeler personal affects in the auction too so I would have to guess the letters sold through private sale at some point between the 1960's and 2010.

[David Atkatz]

I bought the miniature baseball and glove which was given to Willie to commemorate his Testimonial Dinner – February 21st, 1910.

[thekingofclout]

Originally Posted by David Atkatz

I bought the miniature baseball and glove which was given to Willie to commemorate his Testimonial Dinner – February 21st, 1910.

Boy David... That is a truly remarkable piece! Let me ask you David, how much more of your collection hasn't been shown as of yet? Do you at least have your stuff online so we can view/drool over it?

[GrayGhost]

FABULOUS Keeler stuff

[JimStinson]

Wow ! Within 24 hours of my post it looks like CASE CLOSED ...
The letters WERE found a few years ago and the only reason they have not hit the market yet is the owner appears to be attempting to negotiate a deal with several interested parties , My guess is that at this point the stakes have gotten so high he MIGHT swap them even up for a large continent , Antarctica not included.

He was leafing through a chest of drawers that belonged to his late father recently when he came across a trove of baseball memorabilia. The photos and programs that his dad, saved made his eyes grow wide, but not as wide as what he found laying beneath them.
His father was the nephew of "Wee" Willie Keeler, and on the bottom of the drawer lay dozens of letters that Keeler wrote in the summer of 1892, when he was barnstorming through the Northeast,
_________________
Always Buying and Selling Vintage autographs
jim@stinsonsports.com

[sayhey24]

I have the exact same ball and glove (also have the box, but not pictured) from the 1910 Willie Keeler dinner. I believe they gave them out to a number of people that night.

Greg