Morse's Annual Base Ball Books/Guides

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Posted By: Adam J. Baxter

Greetings everybody,

I just had a couple of quick questions for the forum about Jacob C. Morse's Annual Base Ball Books/Guides. I saw a fifth season 1890 edition of one of these on Mark Forder's 1800's Ephemera webpage and since I'm interested in 19th century New England Baseball, I wanted to know if anyone on the forum has ever seen one of these anywhere else? I also was wondering if anyone knows how common these are, and if they come up for sale, what price range they usually fall into? Any info would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Adam

P.S.: Thanks again to everyone on the forum for the advice and info on the T212 Obaks, I've acquired my first few cards and I've taken my first step into a larger world! :0)

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Posted By: Hankron

Adam, I'm no expert on early baseball guides, but have bought and sold a few. I can't comment on the Morse's, but in general there is a strong market for the thick 1800s to early 1900s baseball guides (especially ones with nice pictures and lots of info) and similar quality/scarce publications. I don't know Morse's population count, but most to all 19th century baseball guides are scarce. In otherwords, it's not like buying a 1966 Sport or 1971 Sports Illustrated. As with cards, take the condition into consideration when formulating a price.

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Posted By: Hankron

From a collecter's standpoint, a 19th Century Spalding or early 1900s Reach Guide is worth the money in my opinion. The Reach guides in particular are incredible pubications, with tons of pictures (as Roy Huff well knows) and an encylopedia of information, covering the Major Leagues to Minors. Most of the Pre-1890s guides have original woodcut prints in them.

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Posted By: runcott

I've seen them on ebay (they go cheap compared to Reach and Spalding) and I've seen them advertised in the 1910 Sporting Life newspapers. They are thick, and have plenty of photos, just like the other guides.