1916 - 1917 New Mexico Mining League Trophy and Photos
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GUEST:
This is a photo that I got in the late 1990s, early 2000s in Silver City, New Mexico, when I lived there. I actually found it at just a local antique store. I've always been very intrigued by just baseball in general and the early baseball. How baseball is so, so romantic in those kind of days, so to speak. But I always was very interested in the fact that this, this trophy was in this photo. And I always wondered, what the heck happened to this trophy? Well, fast-forward probably 15 years, and I get a call from my dad in Tucson, and he had mentioned that, "Hey, I, I see this trophy that says 'Chino Mines' on it." But he didn't realize it was this exact trophy.
APPRAISER:
Right.
GUEST:
So I got in touch with the gentleman that had this trophy, and I eventually purchased it.
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
So I had this photo,
APPRAISER:
Right.
GUEST:
...many, many years earlier than the actual trophy.
APPRAISER:
The items originated in New Mexico, and then you brought these items from where?
GUEST:
All the way from Raleigh, North Carolina, uh, uh, over the last two days.
APPRAISER:
Hm.
GUEST:
Because I wanted to bring 'em to the ROADSHOW in New Mexico. I've been waiting for years and years for the ROADSHOW to come back to New Mexico.
APPRAISER:
Tell me a little bit more about what you know about the, about the Mining League.
GUEST:
Well, just from local historians, they had mentioned that the mining companies during this era would hire people to work in the mines based on their ability to play baseball.
APPRAISER:
Yeah.
GUEST:
At the time, they were very small.
APPRAISER:
Yeah.
GUEST:
So this one was Santa Rita, New Mexico, which, Santa Rita isn't even a town anymore. The only other thing that I know is that a local historian, again, said that whatever team won the trophy three years in a row...
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
...got to keep the trophy.
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
But I didn't know if that was true or not.
APPRAISER:
It was common all around the country for industrial league baseball, from the mining companies to even, to the railroad leagues, that the teams were full of what we call ringers.
GUEST:
Oh.
APPRAISER:
Sometimes they didn't even actually have a real job. There's not a lot of recorded history for the Mining League here in, in New Mexico. There's one player on here that has a minor league record, and that's Jack Dempsey. It's not the Jack Dempsey.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
But a gentleman by the name of Jack Dempsey. He did play in 1922 for Hutchinson in the Southwest League.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
And then you said you did find some information that Joe Pate, the pitcher here, also did, or did play in the majors.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
Let's talk about the trophy. This one's called the MacNeill Cup. In the photo, we have the Santa Rita team in 1916. This had the Santa Rita against Hurley, and it said they would play annually for this cup. And I believe you are correct that when they won it for the third time, they got to keep it. And that's why we have one more line at the bottom of this trophy than we have in the photo. The bottom line is, we have Santa Rita winning the 1917 MacNeill Cup. The only other difference in the photo is, it's lacking the wood base-- that's not uncommon.
GUEST:
Hm.
APPRAISER:
I'm completely blown away for an industrial league baseball team to have been able to afford, uh, to procure a trophy like this.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
The trophy is Gorham sterling. And in my career, I've seen very, very few baseball trophies that were sterling. And the craftsmanship is fantastic. This is the finest sterling baseball trophy that I've ever held.
GUEST:
Wow, okay.
APPRAISER:
So now let's talk about value. How much did you pay for the photo?
GUEST:
Probably maybe $50? Didn't have a whole lot of money back then, so... (chuckles)
APPRAISER:
Okay. Well, that's a fantastic collage. These are actual real photos of the ballplayers on that 1916 squad. With the quality of the photos and the presentation in this era, I'd put the value on this one, at auction, at $2,000 to $3,000.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
With an insurance of $3,500.
GUEST:
Excellent.
APPRAISER:
And how much did you pay for the trophy?
GUEST:
I, it was, it was $5,000-- I actually had to take a loan to be able to, to buy this trophy, so...
APPRAISER:
I'd put a value on this one at auction of $12,000 to $16,000.
GUEST:
Wow, wow, that's great, that's great.
APPRAISER:
For insurance, $20,000.
GUEST:
Okay, fantastic. Fantastic-- well, I appreciate it, thank you.
Appraisal Details
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