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The 1939 Centennial Autograph Collection of Harry Evans
One of the top ten pieces we have ever offered in our fifteen years in the business of major sports auctions. This labor of love was put together by a prominent Philadelphian who had money, access to the players and a love for the game. Throughout the season of 1939 (could you pick a better year?) Evans put together this incredible two-volume treasure chest as a salute to the Centennial year. These magnificent 16x20x4" albums are titled on the covers in gold, "1839-1939 A Century of Baseball." Bound in the same yellow leather from the 1939 "Night Game" baseballs, they are custom-made with the sewn in hides of Ford Frick & William Harridge Official baseballs. There are a total of over one-hundred pages in these two steel-bound volumes. Pages themselves are 14x19" in heavy black paper and all of these relics are affixed with four corner mounts which has preserved them for eternity and have not damaged them in any way (quite the contrary). Each page is a tribute to some area of the game and this magical season. The major receptacles for signatures are the 1939 first day covers, George Burke photographs, and the 1939 baseball U.S. postage stamps. But there is something that makes these stamps better. Each is affixed to a white sheet slightly larger at the bottom and is signed on the white giving them far better contrast and a far more attractive device. Highlights The Teams: Two, sometimes three, pages devoted to EVERY team in the AL & NL with fully signed first day covers, unsigned George Burke team photograph for impressive decoration, plus individual stamps of EVERY player, the League execs and their managers. There are twenty-five to thirty signatures on each cachet and the same number of signed stamps. This includes every team in the league from the World Champion New York Yankees (Gehrig, DiMaggio, Gomez, McCarthy, Dickey, Ruffing) and NL Champion Cincinnati Reds (McKechnie, Lombardi, Hershberger) to the Boston Red Sox (Yawkey, Williams, Collins, Foxx, Hugh Duffy, Cronin, Berg) and the Chicago White Sox with Charles Comiskey. There is even an "extra" Yankee fully signed cachet surrounded by the signed stamps of the league execs and manager Joe McCarthy. The .300 Club: Entire pages of signed stamps of the men who batted .300 in 1939. Beautiful white ink calligraphy surrounds them with masterful titles and scrollwork. There are thirty members in the AL (DiMaggio, Foxx, Greenberg, Williams) and seventeen in the NL (Medwick, Waner, Vaughan, Ott) ".300 Club." Plus there are several extra stamps with DiMaggio (2), Williams, Foxx, Grove. The Umpires: Pages devoted to all the AL & NL umps (about twenty-five) with a complete signed cachet and individual signed stamps with unsigned snapshots above each for effect (Klem, Hubbard, McGowan, Reardon, Pinelli, Pipgras, and Rommell). There are also twenty-five awesome 5x7" individual George Burke portraits signed in white with signed stamps of each below. The Bill Klem is gorgeous. Plus, there is a rare and stunning individual signed photo of Hall of Famer Tommy Connolly.The League Leaders: Winners of individual awards like home run champions, batting average and RBI's. These pages include Burke photos (unsigned) and individually signed cachet and stamps. Includes Jimmy Foxx, a rookie Ted Williams (with an amazing signed Burke), Lefty Grove and Joe DiMaggio. The Management: Fully signed first day covers and individual stamps of all the American League Managers (McCarthy, Mack, Cronin, Harris); and the League Executives (Landis, Harridge, Frick). The Hall of Fame: Brilliant signed 1939 1st Day Cover of the original HOF Inductees (Ruth, Cobb, Wagner, Johnson, Lajoie, Mack, Speaker, Sisler, Young, Collins & Alexander). Two matching signed cachets of the 1939 HOF "Dream Game" played at the original Cooperstown weekend. This pitted the NL (twenty-eight signatures with Ott, Hartnett, Medwick, Vaughan, Lombardi) against the AL (twenty-nine signatures with Gehrig, DiMaggio, Grove, Feller, Gomez, Hubbard, Greenberg, DiMaggio). The Signed Photographs: Most are by George Burke and include Walter Johnson (with signed stamp beside), Feller, Frick, Harridge, Mack and two of the finest Joe DiMaggio signed photos we have ever seen. There are many other top players as well. The Unsigned Photographs: Tremendous group are almost all by George Burke. Many of these were custom-ordered and there are images that you do just not see: the 1939 HOF post office with Landis buying the first sheet from Postmaster General James Farley, Gehrig, Foxx, Klem and more. Best of all is the famed 1939 image (8x10") of the seated HOF Inductees (unsigned) surrounded by signed stamps of Ruth, Cobb, Wagner, Johnson, Lajoie, Mack, Speaker, Sisler, Young, Collins and Alexander. The Wagner’s vs. Collins’ Game: Pages devoted to this famed the 1939 HOF Game. Includes image we have not seen of the Honus Wagner & Eddie Collins playing "bat game for first ups" with their signed stamps beside. Two cachets are fully signed by each of their teams. The Wagners with eighteen (Wagner, Medwick, Grove, Vaughan, Berg) and the Collins' with seventeen (Collins, Greenberg, Ott, Dean, L. Waner, Herman, Hartnett). Plus there are two signed covers for Connie Mack Day at Cooperstown (July 24th). The Old Timers: Four 1st days covers with about twenty signatures on each from the pivotal 1939 Old Timers Game Centennial Celebration at Braves Field: Kelly, Duffy Lewis, Young, Speaker, Collins, Bender, Walsh, Grove, Hooper, Alexander, and Baker. There are two of each of most of these signatures here. The Ephemera: Lovely collection of baseball media guides and a complete set of 1939 World Series ticket stubs. Most importantly, two original 1876 stock certificates for Athletic Base Ball Club of the City of Philadelphia. One of the charter members of the National League (the only founding "1876" stock extant) with requisite signatures of A.C. Johnston & Thomas J. Smith. These are worth $3-5,000 each alone. There are a total of over 1,400 signatures here (a complete list is available upon request). There are very few secretarial signatures here including a few Gehrig's, which were not mentioned in the count above. Overall NRMT. There is six-figures worth of baseball autographs here and a cool million worth of blood, sweat, tears, unmatched aesthetics, and pure baseball history.
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