Robert Edwards Auction

Wow. This is a great month for auction hounds. Robert Edwards Auctions has put together one of the more incredible offerings this year. Last year I posted about a newly discovered Babe Ruth. Well, this month it is finally available for sale. Below is a 1914 Baltimore News Babe Ruth Rookie Card. It is currently at a bid price of $150,000.00. I believe this is already a record price for the rare card. The team photo card, which is one-of-a kind, has been bid up to $30,000.00 so far.REA Auction Link: Babe Ruth Baltimore News Card:

Another item that Baseball history buffs should take note of is the 1838 Philadelphia Olympic Ball Club constitution. This was America's first Baseball team.

This is the earliest relic of organized baseball from the first organized baseball team in existence. It is arguably the single most historically significant item relating to the origins of the National Pastime in existence. This is the document that records the birth of organized baseball. The Philadelphia Olympics formally established and approved the rules for their club on December 7, 1837. The Olympic constitution detailing these rules was published in 1838 by John C. Clark of 60 Dock Street, Philadelphia. A copy was distributed to each of the twenty-nine team members, all of who were listed by name in the Constitution. This is one of those twenty-nine original Olympic constitutions, issued to one of the original members of the first organized baseball team in the universe. It is the only surviving example known to exist. It is fascinating to note that for many years research libraries have had only an early style photocopy of the 1838 Olympic Constitution. While the photocopies verified its existence and provided a complete record of its contents, the actual whereabouts of the original have long been unknown. Attempts to trace the origins of the photocopy back to the original have always, unfortunately, led to yet another earlier photocopy. The original was seemingly lost to the ages, a mystery ironically befitting a document so integral to the mysterious origins of the National Pastime. It was particularly fascinating for us to note, upon examination and comparison, that the offered Olympic Constitution is the very original from which all Olympic Constitution photocopies were long ago made, and which have been used for reference by scholars and researchers for decades.

For a complete view of the contents of the constitution at SABR click here: PDF download here.

REA Link: Constitution: