December Pickups

[jimtigers65]

Drove 90 miles out into farm country today to pick up this time capsule, circa 1948. Especially excited about the Jackie Robinson pin.[/QUOTE]


Now that is pretty cool. What was the backstory on driving 90 miles? Did the seller had it advertised and you made the drive or someone gave you a lead? I like various teams on the hat.

[bocca001]

Originally Posted by jimtigers65

Drove 90 miles out into farm country today to pick up this time capsule, circa 1948. Especially excited about the Jackie Robinson pin.

Now that is pretty cool. What was the backstory on driving 90 miles? Did the seller had it advertised and you made the drive or someone gave you a lead? I like various teams on the hat.[/QUOTE]

It was a facebook listing that was not well described. Just "baseball memorabilia." The main picture showed the hat tag. It was hard to tell what the guy was selling from the main listing. No description of Jackie Robinson or Babe Ruth. The seller was in a very small rural Texas town. Not where I would expect to find something so NY. The price made it a really good deal. Not a steal (the guy had done some research), but a very good deal for sure.

[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.

[sbfinley]

That seller had some great tickets last week. Glad they went to good home Jeff.

[Topnotchsy]

Originally Posted by sbfinley

That seller had some great tickets last week. Glad they went to good home Jeff.

Thanks! Definitely not the kinds of items I expect to stumble across on eBay, especially all from one seller without much activity, but the items looked good, and interactions with the seller all felt comfortable.

I would have loved to have won a few more, but very happy with these.

[Ulidia]

I don’t post often as my collection is focused on vintage soccer more so than baseball. However, I thought I would share this item purchased at auction in Turin, Italy earlier this month.

It is a postcard sent from Lisbon, Portugal to Turin, Italy on May 03 1949. It is autographed by the Torino soccer club who were in Portugal to play an exhibition match against Benfica on that May 03 1949 date.

Torino were one of the leading clubs of this era and were on the verge of winning the Italian national soccer championship for a fifth successive season. They were commonly known as ‘Il Grande Torino’.

The importance of this item is that on 04 May 1949, the day after the game and the day after this postcard was sent, the plane carrying the squad back from Lisbon crashed into the hills of Superga as the aircraft was approaching Turin. All on board, including the entire Torino squad, died instantly. Everyone who signed this postcard died a day after it was sent.

The Superga disaster remains a pivotal and sad moment in Italian sporting and cultural history and is commemorated each year. This year was the 75th anniversary of the tragedy.

[doug.goodman]

Originally Posted by Ulidia

Everyone who signed this postcard died a day after it was sent.

Jeez, I hope everybody has a better Christmas than that.