Memorabilia

Early 1950’s P-F Canvas Shoes Advertising Sign Featuring Musial, Doerr, Campy, Lemon, and Rizzuto

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Here’s an awesome advertisement, scanned from a June 2005 auction catalog for B.F. Goodrich P-F Canvas Shoes featuing a slew of MLB legends.

A few years later, in 2013, Lelands sold a framed copy of the awesome stadium-designed cardboard ad, mentioning that it measures 19” x 25”. They also highlighted the inclusion of Sam Jethroe as an early African American promotion—that copy sold for $640.

If you look around, you’ll find several variations dating later into the ’50s that include legends like Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, and Willie Mays. However, if you want them in your collections, they’ll cost you many thousands of dollars. Luckily, they all feature floating heads!

Pete Rose & Bart Giamatti Signed 1983 All-Star Game First Day Cover

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How’s this for rare and historically significant: a Pete Rose and Bart Giamatti signed 1983 All-Star Game First-Day Cover?!

If you weren’t aware:

Giamatti served as Commissioner for only five months before dying suddenly of a heart attack. He is the shortest-tenured baseball commissioner in the sport’s history and the only holder of the office not to preside over a full Major League Baseball season. Giamatti’s most notable act as Commissioner was to negotiate the agreement resolving the Pete Rose betting scandal in which Rose was permitted to voluntarily withdraw from the sport to avoid further punishment.

Wikipedia

This first-day cover was a part of Mastro’s March 2006 Classic Collector Auction.

1939 Babe Ruth Signed Advertising Contract

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Here’s an incredible advertising contract featuring the full-name signature of “George H Babe Ruth.”

The fully executed agreement was signed by a representative of the National Broadcasting Company in March 1939, and states the final terms for what I guess was the severing of the relationship that had provided for Ruth’s endorsement on behalf of Red Rock Bottlers, Inc.

You can see that the EX/MT document came with a PSA/DNA certification. It was auctioned off in December 2004.

The Only Known Scorecard From Cy Young’s 1904 Perfect Game

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Here’s the only known scorecard from Cy Young’s 1904 Perfect Game vs. Rube Waddell, the first perfect game in AL History. Sotheby’s offered it in their June 2005 Important Sports Memorabilia and Cards auction.

I’ve never been a big collector of this sort of memorabilia unless the scorecard advertised sports cards, too, but this one is so historically significant that I felt it was worth highlighting.

Here’s the full item description copied from the catalog:

One of the most consistent and durable pitchers the game has ever known, Denton True “Cy” Young won 511 games almost 100 more than any other pitcher in history. He won 30 games five times and topped 20 wins an astounding 15 times. In 1901 Young had his best season and became the fledgling American League’s first superstar, leading the junior circuit in wins, strikeouts and ERA. His greatest single performance, however, would come on May 5, 1904 at the Huntington Avenue Grounds in Boston. In an epic showdown against future Hall of Famer Rube Waddell and the Connie Mack led Athletics Young threw the first perfect game in American League history. In the ninth inning with two outs, Connie Mack sent Waddell (the pitcher) to the plate. Cy Young popped him out on a fly ball to center capping his 3-0 masterpiece. Not a single ball was hit hard by the Athletics and Mack himself commented that this was the most impressive game ever pitched. Young’s extraordinary nine-inning performance was at the center of what may be the most amazing streak of pitching excellence in baseball history. All told, the right-hander pitched 24 consecutive innings without surrendering a hit. Prior to his perfect game on May 5, Young had pitched two hitless innings at the end of a loss on April 25, and seven innings of hitless relief on April 30. In his first outing after blitzing the Athletics, he stretched his hitless streak to 24 innings against Detroit on May 11 In a 1-0 victory, Young failed to allow a hit until future Hall of Fame outfielder Sam Crawford broke the hitless streak with one out in the seventh. Offered here is the only known original scorecard from Cy Young’s historic perfect game on May 5, 1904. The six-page scorecard features pre-printed lineups at the centerfold for that day including pitchers Young and Waddell. Every at-bat has been neatly recorded in pencil by its original owner. A small composite image of the Red Sox team appears on the first page. The interior pages have loosened from the spine, which has been reinforced by clear tape. Minor soiling and general wear do not significantly detract from its presentation quality. Very good condition overall.

1903 Christy Mathewson Major League Player’s Contract

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Here’s Christy Mathewson’s official National League Player’s Contract for the 1903 season, dated September 15, 1902.

Robert Edward Auctions (then a division of MastroNet Inc.) & eBay presented the item in their July 2000 Baseball Cards and Memorabilia auction. Here’s the lot’s description:

Official National League Player’s Contract for the season of 1903 has been signed by Giants owner John T Brush (10/10), Christy Mathewson (signed “Christopher Mathewson”, 10/10), and manager John McGraw (signed “John J. McGraw, 10/10) as a witness. The contract is dated September 15, 1902. When this contract was signed Mathewson had a 34-37 lifetime record and had just finished a 14-17 season. In 1903 he pitched the first of three consecutive 30 game winning seasons, and 12 consecutive seasons of winning between 22 and 37 games per year, including four seasons of thirty or more victories. It is especially significant that then rookie manager John McGraw (who was just about to embark on his first full season as the Giants manager) served as the witness to this signing. McGraw managed Mathewson’s entire career with the Giants and the two are forever linked as the heart and soul of the glory days of the Giants’ Dynasty years during the early twentieth century. An extraordinary document from one of the game’s greatest stars. Very Good to Excellent condition with flawless signatures. LOA.

The contract’s reserve was set at $10,000.

I’m unsure what it sold for, but REA sold Mathewson’s 1902 player’s contract for $41,125 in the spring of 2011, which RRAuction resold in February 2019 for $68,482. Also, Heritage sold Mathewson’s New York Giants rookie contract for $72,000 in August 2020.

That’s The Ticket!

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Tickets to sporting events can be worth more than the price of admission by Bruce Chadwick.

I love that Chadwick highlighted college football tickets. “Some of the most memory-filled tickets are from college football games. Until the early ’70s, schools large and small had colorful illustrations on the tickets, making them much more than just stubs.”

This article appeared in Edition #8 of Topps Magazine in the fall of 1991.