December pickups

[GrayGhost]

An old time guy went to the game, pasted his tickets inside, marked who played, scored on the roster page, and even cut out articles from paper and pasted them in some spots, for the upcoming game.

Just love this kinda cool stuff. WHA All star program from My homestate of Hartford.

[parker1b2]

Picked this up at a local auction this morning. Jim Leyritz G/U bat. Same bat sold at a Heritage Auction in 2006.

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[mjkm90]

1910 Oversized Cubbie

[Butch7999]

Mark, great acquisition on the Wachter's Parlor Base Ball. Just for accuracy's sake, it's more reliably ascribed to 1890-91,
and possibly predated by Nash Manufacturing's circa 1889 Base-Ball And Bagatelle. Not to take a single thing away from it --
it's a beauty, probably in the best condition of any of the few surviving examples of Wachter's.

[perezfan]

Well, Tanks for Nuttin, Butch (anybody remember that irritating girlfriend in Caddyshack?)

I don't want it anymore. I was under the impression this was the oldest one. In his book, Dr. Cooper has Wachter's listed as being from 1888 and the far less attractive Nash Game from 1889. Are you saying Cooper is mistaken about this??? Can we just call it a tie between Wachter and Nash for oldest?

Seriously, I care lots more about its displayability and rarity than the exact date of manufacture. But appreciate the additional info. Interesting stuff

[Butch7999]

Jeez, sorry, Mark! We shoulda kept our mouths shut (or our fingers off the keyboard) -- it's a great piece no matter what.

Mark Cooper will readily admit there are errors in his 1994 volume -- it was a pioneering work with almost no prior sources
or available documentation on which to rely, so there was was a lot of guesstimation involved in putting a date to many pieces.
Over time, much has been corrected and many blanks filled in by collectors and members at our Baseball Games forum,
and a great deal of that new information is thanks to the ferocious research of Hall of Fame Senior Curator Tom Shieber,
who did an incredible amount of digging to get the details right for the Hall's 2008 exhibition of Dr Cooper's collection.
The patent for Wachter's was granted in March 1891, and the earliest advertisements so far found for it appear in October 1890.
The patent for the Nash Base-Ball And Bagatelle was granted in September 1889, but we haven't yet run across
any advertising for it.

That said, there's often a substantial gap between the granting of a patent and the actual production of a game -- sometimes
a couple of years, in a few instances decades. Advertisements are often a more reliable indicator than patent or copyright dates
of when a game was actually on the market. Without more documentation on the Nash game, there's no overwhelming reason
to think Wachter's didn't hit the market first and that you do in fact have a scarce example of the oldest baseball-themed
pinball/bagatelle game made.

[perezfan]

Wow- that's some great history. Thanks for all of the background info! I am truly amazed and impressed that you are able to document it in such meticulous detail... great stuff.

Of course I was just kidding about being disappointed. It's fascinating to study and collect these relics from Baseball's infancy, and you guys are providing a great service to our community