I was doing some research for the 501 project and thought I’d take a look at what eBay has to offer.
Turns out, it’s a lot. More than 4,000 items came up for the search term “baseball books” and it was interesting to see the make-up.
Although I didn’t take a deliberate count, the vast majority seemed to be Sporting News titles — Registers, Dope Books, Guides, One for the Record, Answers to Knotty Problem — from a wide range of dates, some as far as the 1940s. If I was still in the collecting mode, I’d be all over a lot of these,since the prices seem very reasonable, less than $50.
Who’s Who in Baseball was also a favorite for auctioneers. These go back even farther, to the 1920s and have a wide range in price.
Naturally some of the older items get quite pricey. The most expensive item I found was Babe Ruth’s Own Book of Baseball signed by the slugger himself. Cost: $9,975, marked down from $11,500. There was a lot of 50 TSN Registers from 1941-90 for $2,200 and a 1902 copy of Base Ball, 1845-1871, by Seymour R. Church for $2,000 and a Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown Flip-Book for $1,650.
You can also find NL Green Books and AL Red Books, team publications, sticker books, and other unusual items mixed in with fairly standard stuff.
If you’ve got some time and disposable cash, trolling through eBay is a pleasant way to spend a free hour.
is available on Amazon.com,
Comments on this entry are closed.