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Lot # 1227: 1858 Constitution and By-Laws of the National Association of Base Ball Players with the Rule and Regulations of the Game of Base Ball, Adopted March 1858

Starting Bid: $1,000.00

Bids: 1 (Bid History)

Time Left: Auction closed
Lot / Auction Closed




This lot is closed. Bidding is not allowed.

Item was in Auction "December 2004",
which ran from 12/18/2004 12:00 AM to
12/19/2004 9:00 PM



Also from the priceless O'Connor Collection is this booklet incorporating the constitution, rules and bylaws of baseball's first organized league, the National Association of Base Ball Players, formed in 1858. Using the model of the Putnam club's book of the previous year, the league also added the names of its teams and their officers. One of them was J.B. Jones, president of the Excelsior team of Brooklyn and first vice-president of the fledgling league, who may actually have owned this book, as his name appears written in fountain pen on the first page facing the inside cover, adding even greater value to this printing, one of the very, very few known copies in existence. The book's excellent condition betrays its hoary age. Solid red cover has mild flecks of white but the spine still very secure and the pages only gently browned. Inside front cover is fountain-pen-inscribed "Property of R. F. Kinsella, Springfield, Illinois", something of a mystery man whose name is eerily similar to W.P. Kinsella, author of "Shoeless Joe", which "Field of Dreams" is based on. Printed by Biglow & Bleecker, New York. Along with the Putnam book, probably the oldest and rarest of all "official" printed baseball matter.

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