Welcome to Lelands - Sports Memorabilia and Card Auctions

Lot # 234: 1890s-1920s Sportswriter's Scorebook Collection

Starting Bid: $100.00

Bids: 23 (Bid History)

Time Left: Auction closed
Lot / Auction Closed




This lot is closed. Bidding is not allowed.

Item was in Auction "2024 Fall Pop-Up",
which ran from 11/3/2024 12:00 PM to
11/17/2024 10:00 PM



Presented is an intriguing assortment of five leather-bound books that are jam-packed with hundreds of pages of National League handwritten individual and team statistics, scores, standings, etc., mostly compiled during the final days of the dead ball era, plus a copy of the 1916 Constitution and Playing Rules of the National League. It appears from the handwriting that one unnamed person, most likely a statistician and/or sportswriter, kept each of the five volumes, converting each book, essentially a book of graph pages that the record compiler has converted into his own special, baseball ledger. The five hand-marked volumes show a good bit of wear.

1) A 5x8" volume that contains the line scores of National League games from 1896-1909. The scores are meticulously kept and usually show the runs, hits, and error totals for each team in each scheduled game. The attention to detail in this volume is amazing.

2) This volume, originally intended as a kind of ruled ledger, measures 4x6.5". The book, used in 1898, has been creatively ruled to provide columns of team statistics and the complete daily lineups for each National League game in that season.

3) This 4x6.5" volume is much like the 1898 volume, and it compiles similar National League day-by-day team statistics and lineups, but for the 1899 season.

4) This volume measures approx. 3.3x7.1". It is a terrific, marvelously complete, handwritten statistical record for players on the 1900 Pittsburg [sic] Pirates. For example, Inaugural Hall of Famer Honus Wagner's statistics, both for batting and fielding are kept for each game of the 1900 season. Handwritten numbers are recorded for 15 different categories of batting and fielding. Although remembered as a shortstop, Wagner was very versatile, and this painstakingly kept record book shows that Wagner played the vast majority of his 1900 games in right field and never once played shortstop that season. Wagner batted .381 in 1900, and his total statistics for each game that season and recorded in this volume. Other Pittsburgh Pirate Hall of Famers on that 1900 squad also have very detailed statistics in this volume.

5) A volume measuring 4x6" has handwritten results for the entire 2024 season, with each National Game that season having a line score.

6). The aforementioned 1916 Rules and Constitution of the National League measures approx. 4.9x6.6". On the cover, etched and in gold colored ink: "Compliments of John K. Tener 1916." Each of the six volumes is over a hundred years old, and there is substantial wear on all of the books. There is surface loss, loose pages, binding damage and loss, nicks and stains, and other such expected imperfections for such vintage volumes that have seen great use. The extensive, handwritten statistics and lineups recorded in these volumes make for a fascinating collection.

Views: 227