My Vintage Minneapolis Millers & St. Paul Saints Collection

[Runscott]

Great collection.

I will keep my eyes open for vintage St. Paul stuff and do what I can to help make sure it ends up with a good collector!

[Doglips57]

I found these in the yard at a garage sale a few years ago, the kids had been playing with them.IMG_2804.jpg

IMG_2805.jpg

[Tay1038]

Hi Steve, very neat bats and thanks for sharing! Both bats are circa 1952-55. They look professional model. If you would like, send me the dimensions and model number of the Rigney and I can compare it to the one I own.

[Tay1038]

Original 1920 St. Paul Saints Baseball Club 14x20 Team Photograph – American Association Champions!

This Original Baker Art Gallery photograph was previously owned by Saints P Steamboat Williams. The 1920 Saints were recognized as being the 6th Greatest Minor League Team of All-Time! They finished the season with 115 Wins, 49 losses and captured the American Association Championship.

Top Row: Rapp, McMenemy, Shanley, Haas, Miller, Duncan
Middle Row: E. Hargrave, Merritt, Hall, Griner, Williams, Riggert, W. Hargrave
Bottom Row: W Dressen, Berghammer, M.J. Kelley, Foster, Browne, Boone

Local antique shop find today. As I started to disassemble the frame I found another piece of paper tucked behind the cardboard mat. To my surprise it was an original Montana Public Schools Diploma certificate signed and dated 22 April 1905. The diploma was issued to Rees Williams. Rees “Steamboat” Williams won 20 games for the Saints in 1920! He played for the St. Paul Saints in 1915, 1917, 1920-21 and played for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1914 & 1916. Extremely excited to trace the origins of the photo!

[Tay1038]

Original 1903 St. Paul Saints Baseball Club 11x14 Team Photograph featuring HOFer Miller Huggins - Very 1st American Association Championship!

Back Row: Wheller, Shannon, Corbett, Chech, Hurley, Ferguson, Geier
Middle Row: Sullivan, Kelley, Schaefer, Davis
Front Row: Pierce, Huggins, Volz, Marcan, Jackson

There is an amazing story behind this photo. In 1947, the Saints ran a contest at Lexington Park which provided fans the special opportunity to correctly guess all members of the Saints very first championship team. The winner was handsomely rewarded with this photograph as the prize!

It is believed this photo is original to 1903. These photos were only given to players and management of the team. Mike Kelley was the team manager/player for the 1903 team. The photo has sepia, and done in flat tones. The image is high quality and has strong and clear silvering, which I was told is indicative to a turn of the century photo. Photo attribution is to Harris of Little Rock, Arkansas and copyrighted by the St. Paul Daily News. The St. Paul Daily News ceased publication in 1938.

There are two vintage news clippings on the back of the matt. The first is the player identification roster and the second is the write up about the contest. The article mentions, “The picture belongs to Mike” referring to current team owner Mike Kelley.

[Mark]

Originally Posted by Tay1038

Original 1903 St. Paul Saints Baseball Club 11x14 Team Photograph featuring HOFer Miller Huggins - Very 1st American Association Championship!

Back Row: Wheller, Shannon, Corbett, Chech, Hurley, Ferguson, Geier
Middle Row: Sullivan, Kelley, Schaefer, Davis
Front Row: Pierce, Huggins, Volz, Marcan, Jackson

There is an amazing story behind this photo. In 1947, the Saints ran a contest at Lexington Park which provided fans the special opportunity to correctly guess all members of the Saints very first championship team. The winner was handsomely rewarded with this photograph as the prize!

It is believed this photo is original to 1903. These photos were only given to players and management of the team. Mike Kelley was the team manager/player for the 1903 team. The photo has sepia, and done in flat tones. The image is high quality and has strong and clear silvering, which I was told is indicative to a turn of the century photo. Photo attribution is to Harris of Little Rock, Arkansas and copyrighted by the St. Paul Daily News. The St. Paul Daily News ceased publication in 1938.

There are two vintage news clippings on the back of the matt. The first is the player identification roster and the second is the write up about the contest. The article mentions, “The picture belongs to Mike” referring to current team owner Mike Kelley.

That's beautiful. And it's in the right hands, because you may be the only person who could have named the team members off the top of your head!

[Tay1038]

1877 Minneapolis Brown Stockings vs. Janesville Mutuals Baseball Scorecard – The Origins of Professional Baseball in Minnesota (1875-1877)

Here we have a remarkable scorecard dating to the earliest years of organized baseball in Minnesota that I recently acquired. The scorecard measures 4.5 x 5.5. I was told this scorecard was used in the Ken Burns Baseball documentary.

Minneapolis known as the White Shirts in 1875, Blue Stockings in 1876. By the spring of 1877, Minneapolis appeared in upgraded fine white uniforms, brown stockings and belts, and different colored caps for each position. Because of their new stockings the team would now be known as the Brown Stockings.

The Brown Stockings, much like their nearby river rival the St. Paul Red Caps joined the League Alliance in 1877 after a decade of purely amateur teams drifting through various spots in south Minneapolis. The League Alliance was the first semi-affiliated minor league baseball league. Proposed by Al Spalding on January 15, 1877. Independent baseball teams were to affiliate with National League teams, which would honor their respective contracts. The league only existed for one season, 1877, though another version was attempted in 1882. The League Alliance, a loose association of 13 clubs from the Midwest and East and featured clubs from Syracuse, Memphis, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Chicago, Fall River and Lowell, Massachusetts.

The 1877 Minneapolis Browns rostered some of the earliest players to play at the highest level of Major League Baseball:

Mike Brannock - Chicago White Stockings (1871, 1875)

Dory Dean - Cincinnati Reds (1876)

Charlie Eden - Chicago White Stockings (1877)

Bill Gleason - St. Louis Brown Stockings (1882-87), Philadelphia Athletics (1888), Louisville Colonels (1889), 1886 World Series Champion

Jack Gleason - St. Louis Brown Stockings (1877, 1882-83), Louisville Eclipse (1883), St. Louis Maroons (1884-85), Philadelphia Athletics (1886)

Sonny Hoffman - Cleveland Blues (1879)

Dan O’Leary - Providence Grays (1879), Boston Red Stockings (1880), Detroit Wolves (1881), Worcester Ruby Legs (1882), Cincinnati Outlaw Reds (1884)

Bill Phillips - Cleveland Blues (1879-84), Brooklyn Grays (1885-87), Kansas City Cowboys (1888)