Baseball items from the 1870's are exceedingly scarce. This cabinet
of Paul Hines was once part of the Don
Steinbach collection and shows Hines as a
member of the 1876 Chicago White Stockings. Hines was a great
player who started out in 1872 and lasted
until 1891. He had a .302 lifetime average, won two batting crowns,
and baseball's first triple crown in 1878.
He also recorded the first unassisted triple play in baseball history.
He's
my personal favorite darkhorse candidate for
the Hall of Fame...the 1870's are very underepresented. OK, on to
condition...the writing on front I believe
is standard to the issue...I've seen a few other specimens from the 1876
Chicago team such as Spaulding, White and
Peters and they were all notated in the same style. Card was
produced by a photography studio in Chicago
which appears to be Armstrong noted on the reverse. Photo shows
Hines with the 1870's style belt and tie.
A bat can be seen at his feet. The mount has corner rounding but no
creasing. Photo has separated from the mount
in a couple of small places and shows signs of age. Reverse has a
few notations (see scan below) and a couple
of places where it was once affixed to a scrapbook. I've placed an
optimistic reserve on this, but if it doesn't
sell at my price, I'll just put it back in the safe. Truly a piece for
the
discriminating 19th century collector. Winner
pays insurance based on ending amount. Please check out my other
19th century items this week. Thanks!