1871 - 1872 Boston Red Stockings Archive
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GUEST:
Well, back in 1871, my great-great-grandmother had a boardinghouse in Boston, and she housed the Boston baseball team. Most of them had come from Cincinnati Red Stockings and were among the first to be paid to play baseball.
APPRAISER:
Now, all these cards went to your great-grandfather? That's how he got them and they got handed down to you?
GUEST:
Yeah, apparently he collected them, and he unfortunately cut them down to fit this little album, so they're all slightly askew.
APPRAISER:
Right.
GUEST:
And the thing that's special, in addition to the cards, is this letter, and they all wrote a little sentence and signed it.
APPRAISER:
They must have really loved her. She did-- I'm sure she did the cooking, the cleaning for them. Because if you read some of these lines here: "I am just going upstairs to supper and feel awful hungry, "but do not expect much-- poor meals here, too hungry to say any more, Harry Wright." Here we have, "Would that we were home again. "My sentiments have been expressed "in the above paragraphs-- big meals. A.G. Spalding." Well, what you have here are some of the earliest known 1871 photographic baseball cards. Harry Wright here and his brother George Wright is here. You know, these were the original Wright brothers.
GUEST:
(chuckles)
APPRAISER:
Also, Albert Spalding. Now, Spalding is a very familiar name, isn't it?
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
He was the first well-known player to use a fielding glove. And what did he build from that? A sporting goods empire.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
To have this letter with Harry Wright and Spalding on it is tremendous. To have anything with their signatures on it is phenomenal, because again, you're talking about the precursor to the National and American leagues. So, that all said...
GUEST:
(laughs)
APPRAISER:
You're going to keep them in the family, right?
GUEST:
I want to, yes.
APPRAISER:
Okay. I'm going to value this as an archive, everything here. If you're going to insure it...
GUEST:
Insure it, okay.
APPRAISER:
...I would insure it for at least $1 million.
GUEST:
Are you serious? (chuckling) Oh, my. Holy smokes.
APPRAISER:
It is the greatest archive I have ever had at the Roadshow.
GUEST:
Really? Holy smokes. (chuckles) Guess I better put it in a bank vault.
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm. I have to say, you have hit a grand slam today. (both laugh)
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