Right here are some museum quality beauts!
Following up on
Wednesdays post featuring a Jackie Robinson Game-Used bat on auction at Heritage, I wanted to take a moment to focus on a handful of great vintage Baseball memorabilia items they have up. These pieces are historically important Baseball artifacts that should be in a museum somewhere, but are likely to remain in a collectors personal collection.
Below is a
1866 Trophy Baseball celebrating a game between the Excelsior's of Brooklyn and National's of Albany. It was common in the day for important matches and series' to have a game ball painted and marked with game highlights.
I'll let the
auction description take it from here:
1866 Excelsior vs. National of Albany Trophy Baseball. Just a year after General Lee surrendered his Confederate troops to bring a close to the American Civil War, the presented baseball was utilized and then memorialized to celebrate a victory during the absolute infancy of organized baseball. The victor in the contest was Excelsior of Brooklyn, one of the founding members of the National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP), the first organized baseball league. The game was played at the Capitoline Base Ball Grounds, located between Nostrand Avenue and Marcy Avenue in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, where Excelsior battered National of Albany by a tally of forty-eight runs to twenty-eight on August 17, 1866.
This Baseball is covered in gold leaf and has the following word drawn on it.
"Excelsior 48, National of Albany 28, Aug.
17th, 66."
Below is the
1917 Honus Wagner Day Presentational Loving Cup. It was present to Honus Wagner the season after his retirement from Baseball by the Pirates. I'll let the
auction description describe the scene.
A parade of 150 automobiles and two dozen marching bands formed a
procession from Wagner's Carnegie home to the ballpark, where 12,000
spectators cheered their greying hero as Mayor Joseph G. Armstrong
presented Wagner with the stunning loving cup presented here. Artfully
engraved on the obverse are the words, "Presented to John P. Wagner By His Admirers, Friday June 22, 1917, Wagner Day." Wagner's monogram forms a skillful design on verso.
Here is another piece from the early days of Baseball. From the
auction description:
1865 Trophy Bat Presented to Shortstop Ike Wilkins of the Athletic Base Ball Club of Philadelphia by the Team's Main Rival. Just eight months and three hundred thirty miles from the surrender of the Confederate troops at Appomattox Courthouse to bring an end to the bloody American Civil War, this incredible relic from the infancy of our National Pastime found a proud new owner. That recipient was a star ballplayer named Ike Wilkins, whose name is artfully engraved upon a silver plaque affixed to the barrel of this hefty hunk of hardwood, the full text reading:
"Presented to Ike Wilkins by his Friends and admirers of the Minerva Base Ball Club, Dec. 7th, 1865."
Ike Wilkins was an early Baseball star, and he received the above bat commemorating his prowess.
Also here is a photocopy of a column from the January 18, 1866Philadelphia Inquirer, which reads, in part:
"Testimonial to Mr. Isaac Wilkins, the well-known short-stop of the Athletic Club--A committee of the Minerva Base Ball club, consisting of Messrs. Theo. E. Wiedersheim, C.J. McClary, Richard M. Neuman, Edward B. Paul and William Colbert, waited upon Mr. Wilkins and presented him with a handsome silver-mounted prize bat, wrapped handle and tastefully ornamented. The President of the Minerva (Mr. Wiedersheim) presented it in an appropriate speech, and alluded to the playing of Mr. Wilkins upon all occasions, and noted in particular the game at New York for the championship, where Mr. Wilkins' playing was the subject of comment, and thanked him for the manner in which he had always acted towards the Minerva Club. Mr. Wilkins responded and thanked the members of the Minerva for their kindness, and hoped always to merit the treatment just received. His modesty forbade him saying all he wished to. The bat, which is considered the handsomest ever gotten up, will shortly be on exhibition on Chestnut Street, where all base ball players will have an opportunity of seeing it."
Here are some close up pics of the bat below. BTW, this bat was found hiding in an attic just a few months ago.
