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A Photographic Treasury of Baseball’s Deadball Era

Postcard featuring the Detroit Tigers during their American League pennant run in 1907. The clarity and tone can vary widely with this postcard, this one has a particularly rich sepia tone and outstanding clarity. Ty Cobb, during his first full season, is seen in the…

In 1914 the Chicago White Sox passed through Abilene, Texas on their way back from training camp in Paso Robles, California. Eddie Collins is seen a the bat against a local team of bankers. It was a regular occurrence in the Deadball Era for Major…

Roger Bresnahan from the Bregstone postcard set which featured member of the St. Louis Cardinals and St. Louis Browns. This set features stunning clarity and on the field shots of the players.

Chief Bender in his Pinkerton T5 and scorecard image. The original photo is by Charles Conlon as seen in the Collection. Pinkerton, a tobacco company, issued the T5 cabinet cards with an actual photo print and also smaller postcard sized lithographic scorecard back and plan…

Chief Bender is shown in his windup on the mound in this postcard taken on September 1, 1913 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. This postcard accompanies the 1913 Bender Coming off the Field postcard which is also part of this Collection. The same fan took…

This image depicts Bender coming off the field in a postcard snapped by a fan on the third base line on September 1, 1913 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. This is the same game, and by the same photographer, as the 1913 Bender on the…

Lee Stopple, a noted photographer, took this image of Baker and the similar image of Christy Mathewson also in this collection. The clarity and composition of the photos is of exceptional quality and we can get a sense of Stopple from the accolades he annotated…

RPPC of Home Run Baker holding his lethal bat. While the postcard is trimmed, it features all of the actual image as the photographer chose an oval crop for the image itself.

Reach Baseball Catalogs from 1912 and 1913. The 1912 catalog shows Sam Crawford at the bat and Chief Bender in his windup. These are based on Loius Van Oeyens photographs. The 1913 catalog shows Home Run Baker’s swing, Chief Bender in his follow through and…

Handwritten letter from Eddie Collins to D.A. Fletcher who was organizing a barnstorming tour for after the 1910 baseball season. Fletcher’s tour was ultimately nixed by the National Commission who ran baseball at that time. The players’ frustration with such control over them led to…

Ty Cobb handwritten letter circa 1908 accompanied by a Graig Kreindler color study of Cobb. Letters and signatures from early in Cobb’s career, he started in 1906, are almost impossible to find. The intriguing detective story behind solving the date of this Cobb letter is…

Fascinating handwritten letter from Chief Bender to D.A. Fletcher who was organizing a barnstorming tour for after the 1910 baseball season. Fletcher’s tour was ultimately nixed by the National Commission who ran baseball at that time. The players’ frustration with such control over them led…