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Lot # 887: 1887 Chicago Nationals Baseball Currency w/Spalding & Anson

Category: Early Baseball

Starting Bid: $300.00

Bids: 26 (Bid History)

Time Left: Auction closed
Lot / Auction Closed




This lot is closed. Bidding is not allowed.

Item was in Auction "Winter Classic 2022",
which ran from 2/13/2022 3:00 PM to
3/12/2022 10:00 PM



Presented is a fine example of the highly collectible "currency" advertisements produced by baseball clubs in the 1880s. Displayed on the front of the currency is Albert Spalding, the owner of the team, called the Nationals on the currency, because the team played in the National League, but also known as the White Stockings. Spalding was a former player and manager, and a HOF pioneer and sporting gear manufacturer. Also on the front is an advertisement for Morgan Brothers, ticket brokers providing reduced railroad fares. On the reverse, are 12 small pictures of Chicago National players, including: Cap Anson, the team's player/manager and a Hall of Famer, who in this 1887 season, even at age 37, would hit ,347; John Clarkson, a HOF pitcher who had a record of 38-21 in '87, and who won 324 games lifetime; and Billy Sunday, an outfielder who had a MLB career batting average of .291, and later became the most influential American evangelist preacher of the first two decades of the Twentieth Century. The Chicago Nationals (White Stockings) later became the Chicago Colts, then the Chicago Orphans, and finally the Chicago Cubs - from 1903 through today. The visually pleasing currency measures 7.5x3.25". The piece does have some wrinkles and roughness at the edges, but for the age and fragility of this currency, it is in remarkably VG condition.

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