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Lot # 900: Crosley Field Gate "10" Sign

Starting Bid: $200.00

Bids: 21 (Bid History)

Time Left: Auction closed
Lot / Auction Closed




This lot is closed. Bidding is not allowed.

Item was in Auction "2023 Spring Classic",
which ran from 4/2/2023 7:00 PM to
4/22/2023 10:00 PM



Presented is an original wooden Crosley Field Gate 10 sign that was obtained at the ballpark's demolition. Crosley Field, the former home of the Cincinnati Reds, opened as Redlands Field on April 11, 1912. After Powell Crosley bought the Reds, the name of the ballpark was changed to Crosley Field. Traditionally one of the Major League's smallest playing sites, Crosley Field had a 15-foot incline in left field, known as the terrace. Babe Ruth, in his last season and playing left field for the Boston Braves, once ingloriously fell on his face trying to negotiate the incline while chasing a long fly. Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame left fielder Frank Robinson, unlike Ruth, loved the inclined terrace, and Robinson even lobbied (unsuccessfully) to have a similar incline installed at Riverfront Stadium, where the Reds moved in mid-season of 1970. Crosley Field hosted four World Series - in 1919 (as Redlands Park), '39, '40, and '61. Two All-Star Games were also played at Crosley Field, in 1938 and '53. Crosley Field, on May 24, 1935, became the first Major League ballpark to host an official MLB night game as the Reds defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 2-1. The ballpark was also the spot where Reds' catcher Ernie Lombardi launched the tongue-in-cheek "longest home run in Major League history" when a Lombardi drive went over the outfield wall and landed in the back of a traveling truck that drove another 30 miles before stopping. The second and third editions of the American Football League Cincinnati Bengals played at Crosley Field, but the current Cincinnati Bengals team did not. The Cincinnati Buckeyes, the Cincinnati Cuban Stars, and other Negro League teams also called Crosley Field home. The exit sign measures 11x14x0.75". The sign was originally predominately painted red, but over the passage of years, the original red has faded to a bright orange with #10 in white numerals. Both sides of the sign are painted in the same way. The sign is mounted on a brown wooden base measuring 2.5x14.75x0.9". On the upper right side of one side of the sign is a spot less than an inch in diameter in which the sign was damaged from a screw or bolt that entered from the top. The corresponding spot on the other side of the sign also exhibits this damage. The top of where a bolt or screw was placed on the other side of the top shows a missing clamp. The sign also shows minor paint loss in small spots and rust on the "eye" used for a hook on top. Despite some of the aforementioned minor imperfections, the sign is in good condition, especially considering that it is painted gray underneath and was used for decades. Crosley Field was the home field of such great Cincinnati Reds Hall of Famers as Frank Robinson, Ernie Lombardi, Johnny Bench and Tony Perez, and this vintage Gate 10 sign makes a valued remembrance of classic Crosley Field.

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