Baseball bidding sure to go deep – Boston Herald

Some 500 rare baseball artifacts including a “Shoeless” Joe Jackson game-used bat, an 1887 autographed photo of former Boston player Mike “King” Kelly, a Carl Yastrzemski rookie card and material from the Negro Leagues are going on the auction block at Christie’s next month.

“The Golden Age of Baseball” sale will feature $5 million worth of memorabilia from the National Pastime Museum, an online museum featuring items from a private collection of baseball artifacts, photographs and memorabilia.

“The owner prefers to remain anonymous, but I can tell you this: He had great taste,” Christie’s pop culture consultant Simeon Lipman, who has been appraising and curating auctions and exhibitions for more than 20 years, told the Track.

The most valuable piece in the collection is the Shoeless Joe bat, one of only two known from his playing days. The stick belonging to the Chicago “Black Sox” player, accused with other teammates of accepting bribes to throw the 1919 World Series, is expected to sell for a whopping $500,000 to $700,000.

The Boston-related items include the aforementioned King Kelly autograph, from an 1887 Boston Lodge of Elks banquet.

“He was one of the great early stars of the game,” Lipman said. “And this is the only known signed photograph of him in existence. At that point in history, people had just started asking baseball players for their autographs so this is really cool.” Kelly, a colorful Hall of Famer, was a player-manager for the Boston Beaneaters and the Boston Red Stockings, precursors to the Boston (now Atlanta) Braves. He is credited with helping to popularize various hardball strategies including the hit-and-run, the hook slide, and having the catcher back up first base. When he wasn’t on the field, Kelly did a vaudeville act in Boston where he would recite “Casey at the Bat,” sometimes butchering it.

His autographed photo is expected to bring in between $150,000 and $200,000.

Other items of local interest in the sale include a Jimmie Foxx-signed game-used bat that is estimated at $30,000 to $40,000 and a Foxx-signed baseball.

“There are very few Jimmie Foxx items available,” Lipman said, “that’s what makes them special.”

The Yaz rookie card, in “mint” condition, is estimated at $8G to $10G and the photo of a rookie Babe Ruth, in his Boston uniform, is a steal at an estimated $1,000 to $1,500.

“I’ve got to say this is one of the best collections I’ve ever seen,” Lipman said. “And this type of memorabilia has proven to be an incredible investment that continues to go up in value.”

The auction gets underway on Oct. 19 and 20 in New York. Check it out at christies.com/baseball.

File Under: Moneyball.