Lot 467. Clark Griffith Large Autograph Personalized to Bert (Sugar). Griffith’s signature extends 4.5” across Washington Senators’ stationery that lists him as the team president. JSA Authentication and Kevin Keating both authenticated the autograph, which is nm-m 8 to mint 9. Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1946 as a pioneer and executive, Griffith pitched for seven major league teams, 1891-1914. He won more than 20 games seven times on his way to a 237-146 career record. As a manager, he guided the Chicago White Stockings to a pennant in 1901. In 1920, he and a Philadelphia grain exporter purchased 80 percent of the Washington Senators. With him as an owner, the Senators won pennants in 1924, 1925 and 1933, and a world championship in 1924. He died in 1955. A letter signed by Mrs. Sugar is included; it verifies that this item is from Bert Sugar’s collection. The JSA Auction Letter of Authenticity may be exchanged for a full LoA at a discount.
Winning Bid $92.
Lot 468. Calvin Griffith Signed 1947 Typed Note on Washington Senators’ Stationery. Born Calvin Robertson, he was the nephew of Washington Senators owner Clark Griffith, who raised the boy from the age of 11. Griffith adopted Calvin after the boy’s father died. Calvin worked for the Senators organization, and when the elder Griffith died in 1955, Calvin inherited the team, which he moved to Minnesota in 1961. He sold the team in 1984. Griffith died in 1999. Born in Canada, he was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2010. His signature, as the Senators’ vice president, is mint 9 to gem mint 10 at the close of a letter on 8.5” x 4.75” stationery. In the letter, he tells a writer that Senators team jackets are not for sale. Authenticated by Kevin Keating. A letter signed by Mrs. Sugar is included; it verifies that this item is from Bert Sugar’s collection.
Minimum Bid $20.
Lot 469. George Gibson Autograph on a George Burke Vintage 8” x 9.75” B&W Photo. Gibson caught for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1905-16 and had two terms as the team’s manager, 1920-22 and 1932-34. He helped the team to win the 1909 World Series against Ty Cobb and the Detroit Tigers. Born in Canada, he is a member of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. He died in 1967. Gibson’s personalized autograph is nm 7 to nm-m 8. Below it, he added “Pittsburgh Pirates” and his tenure with the team. The photo is superb, and the autograph, large, distinctive and authenticated by Kevin Keating. A letter signed by Mrs. Sugar is included; it verifies that this item is from Bert Sugar’s collection.
Winning Bid $125.
Lot 470. 20+ Baseball Guides and Other Annuals and Publications Spanning 1906-59. The earliest publication is “Napoleon Lajoie’s Official Base Ball Guide” from 1906. Lacking covers, it is otherwise complete and contains Van Oeyen and Horner photos. The premier publication in the group is “Who’s Who in Major League Baseball,” the wonderful 1933 hardcover edited by Harold (Speed) Johnson. The covers of this copy remain connected but are detached from the interior. At least 20 leafs (40 pages) have been cut, removing photos of Foxx, Gehrig, Gomez, Grove, Hubbell, Medwick, Ruth, Ruffing, Terry, Cobb, Mathewson, Marquard, Bresnahan, Bender, Plank, Baker, Waddell, Young, Alexander and others. Generally, the information on these players remains; photos and biographical sketches of more than 400 players are present. Here is a list of the other publications – “Baseball Bat Bag”: From “Baseball Magazine,” featuring “Forty Years of Odd Baseball Records,” 1925 g-vg and 1924 vg. “Batting Averages at a Glance”: From “The Sporting News” by Paul A. Rickart, 1962, vg+ to ex. “Famous Slugger Yearbook”: 1936, Lou Gehrig and Mel Ott cover, vg-ex, and 1947, Musial and Vernon, g-vg. “Heilbroner Baseball Blue Book”: 1946 Abridged Edition, vg. In 1909, Heilbroner established the first commercial statistical organization focusing on baseball. “Knotty Problems of Baseball”: By Billy Evans, American League Umpire, published by “The Sporting News,” 1950, f-g. “Major League Baseball (Whitman Publishing)”: 1941, Bob Feller cover, vg; 1942, Ted Williams cover, g+ to vg; 1945 and 1946, both poor; 1948, Williams, two copies, one vg+ and one f. “Official Baseball (A. S. Barnes)”: 1945, stained covers, otherwise vg, and 1946 vg. “Official Base Ball Rules Adopted by the National and American Leagues”: Revised for 1939 and written by John B. Foster, ex. “Official Baseball Rules, 1959 Edition”: Published by “The Sporting News,” vg-ex. “Sporting News Record Book”: 1936, Hank Greenberg cover, vg+, and 1940, g. “Who’s Who in Baseball”: 1980 reprint of the 1926 edition, Max Carey cover, nm And “Who’s Who in the Major Leagues” (Callahan-Carmichael): 1937, no cover, pages probably missing, p; 1948, hardcover, vg-ex; and 1952, hardcover, vg-ex. A letter signed by Mrs. Sugar is included; it verifies that these items are from Bert Sugar’s collection.
Minimum Bid $75.
Lot 471. 1922 “The Baseball Cyclopedia” by Ernest J. Lanigan, the “Patron Saint of SABR.” Sportswriter Fred Lieb canonized Lanigan, who was not only a fellow sportswriter, but the leading baseball statistician of his era. Lanigan told Lieb that watching baseball didn’t especially interest him. “All my interest in baseball is in its statistics. I want to know something about every major league ball player, not only what he is hitting, but his full name with all middle names and initials, where they were born, and where they live now.” His 1922 “Cyclopedia,” a 208-page softcover, provides a history of baseball and various records – batting and base stealing champions, World Series statistics and a listing of more than 3,500 major league players. Subsequently, updates, or “Supplements,” to the “Cyclopedia” were issued annually. The 1922 supplement is part of the book, and the 1923 and 1924 supplements are included. There are some notes written on the title page of the book, and the back cover is almost separated. The inside of the front cover has advertising for “Baseball Magazine” posters. Late in his career, Lanigan served as curator of the Baseball Hall of Fame, and then as its historian. A letter signed by Mrs. Sugar is included; it verifies that this item is from Bert Sugar’s collection.
Winning Bid $30.
Lot 472. 41 Different Issues of “The Sporting News Baseball Guide,” 1942-81 and 2003. These annuals come with a letter of authenticity, signed by Mrs. Sugar, saying they are from the Bert Sugar collection. “TSN” published its first “Guide” in 1942; both the regular edition, g+ to vg, and the radio edition, ex, are present. Each remaining year of the 1940s is represented: 1943, radio edition, edges taped, g+ to vg; 1944, covers loose and separted, p-f; 1945, g; 1946, Newhouser cover, vg; 1947, g+ to vg; 1948, radio edition with Red Barber cover, g+ to vg, and 1949, Boudreau cover, vg. The 1951 “Guide” is missing from the 1950s; 1950 is vg; 1951, Musial cover, front and back covers loose, g; 1953-56 and 1959, average vg; and 1957 and 1958, ex. Mickey Mantle is on the 1957 cover, and Ted Williams, on the 1958 cover. Three 1960s issues have Willard Mullin covers – 1960, 1962 and 1963. The issues from 1960-64 average vg, and from 1965-69, ex. The front cover of the 1979 edition is loose, and the 2003 edition is g+ to vg. The other issues average ex to ex-m. Each “Guide” provides statistics and useful information on the preceding season. Many of these annuals contain post-it notes marking pages for Bert Sugar.
Winning Bid $50.
Lot 473. Bert Sugar’s TSN “Baseball Register” Collection – 31 Issues from 1946-2003. Even with the increase in information on the Internet, the “Register” from “The Sporting News” remains a valuable resource, providing player minor and major league statistics in a single “file.” The earlier copies from Sugar’s shelves of reference materials are especially well used. Some still contain his post-it notes used to mark pages: 1946, g; 1950, Joe DiMaggio cover, p-f; 1951, vg; 1952, ex+; 1955, back cover loose, g+; 1956, vg-ex; 1957, p; 1959, g+; 1961, edges taped, vg; 1963, vg; 1964, vg-ex; 1966, Koufax cover, vg-ex; 1967, Frank and Brooks Robinson cover, vg+; 1968, vg+; 1969, ex+; 1971, Mays cover, vg+ to ex; 1972, Torre cover, ex-m; 1973, ex; 1974, Rose cover, vg-ex; 1975, Hunter, vg-ex; 1976, Palmer, ex-m; 1977, Joe Morgan, nm; 1978, Carew, vg+; 1979, vg-ex; 1980 Yastrzemski, 1981 Brett, 1982 Valenzuela and 1983 Sutter, all ex to ex-m; 1985 vg+; 1986, Mattingly, vg+ to ex, and 2003, Bonds and others, vg. This group comes with a letter of authenticity, signed by Mrs. Sugar, saying it is from the Bert Sugar collection.
Minimum Bid $40.
Lot 474. 46 Issues of “Who’s Who in Baseball” from “Baseball Magazine,” 1926-2010. These handy references are from the library of Bert Sugar. They come with a letter of authenticity, signed by Mrs. Sugar, saying they are from the Bert Sugar collection. The issues are from 1926 (Max Carey cover), 1937 (Lou Gehrig), 1938 (Ducky Medwick), 1940, 1944 (Stan Musial), 1946 (Hal Newhouser), 1947, 1948 (Ralph Kiner and Johnny Mize), 1949 (Lou Boudreau), 1950, 1951, 1952 (Musial), 1954, 1956 (Duke Snider), 1957 (Mickey Mantle), 1958 (Warren Spahn), 1961 (Roger Maris), 1962 (Whitey Ford), 1963 (Don Drysdale), 1964 (Sandy Koufax), 1965-67, 1968 (Carl Yastrzemski), 1969, 1970 (Tom Seaver and others, 2 copies, blue cover and red cover), 1972, 1973 (Nolan Ryan and others), 1975, 1976, 1977 (Thurman Munson and Joe Morgan), 1978-83, 2002, 2004-07, 2009 and 2010. Here is a breakdown of the issues by grade: P: 2004. G: 1926, 1951, 1957 and 1963. G-vg: 1952 and 2002. Vg: 1937, 1938, 1940, 1946, 1948, 1961, 1962, 1965, 1966, 1968 and 2006. Vg-ex: 1944, 1948, 1950, 1956, 1958, 1967, 1969, 1972, 1974, 2007 and 2009. Ex: 1949, 1970 (red cover), 1976 and 1979. Ex-m: 1964, 1970 (blue cover), 1975, 1977, 1981 and 1982. Nm to nm-m: 1971, 1978, 1980, 1983, 2005 and 2010.
Winning Bid $138.
Lot 475. Frantz 1923 The Great American Game Tin Litho Baseball Game. Frantz made the original version of this game. Three editions followed, two by Hustler Toy and one by Schylling. The spinner for the game works, and all 18 wood pegs are present. The board, which features excellent graphics, shows one minor indentation. Very nice example. A letter signed by Mrs. Sugar is included; it verifies that this item is from Bert Sugar’s collection.
Winning Bid $125.
Lot 476. 1924 “The Knack of Batting,” a Louisville Slugger Pamphlet by J. B. Sheridan. This 40-page 3 5/8” x 6” publication provides batting tips and promotes Hillerich & Bradsby bats. Major stars are pictured, including George Sisler, George Kelly, Babe Ruth, Tris Speaker, Edd Roush, Eddie Collins and Ty Cobb. Vg. A letter signed by Mrs. Sugar is included; it verifies that this item is from Bert Sugar’s collection.
Winning Bid $40.
Lot 477. 1928 “Babe Ruth’s Own Book of Baseball.” In this book published by the A. L. Burt Company, Ruth provides instructions on playing baseball. Vg+ copy with the front cover slightly loose but still attached. There is an inscription inside the back cover, and someone wrote Ruth’s name above his photo inside the front cover. A letter signed by Mrs. Sugar is included; it verifies that this item is from Bert Sugar’s collection.
Winning Bid $35.
Lot 478. New York Mets 1969 “Champions” Full-Sized Photo Pennant. Under the leadership of Gil Hodges, the Mets finally found some guys around Flushing Meadow-Corona Park who could play the game of baseball. These “Miracle Mets” dispatched the Atlanta Braves in the first National League Championship Series and then captured the world championship in five games. The pennant is vg-ex with a very slight tip clip, creases on the color photo and paint cracking. A letter signed by Mrs. Sugar is included; it verifies that this item is from Bert Sugar’s collection.
Winning Bid $75.
Lot 479. 1973 Baseball Hall of Fame Picture Pack. These 5” x 6.75” photos, accompanied by the original envelope, average nm. The players include Wagner, Cobb, Jackie Robinson, Ruth, Ted Williams, etc. The pack has a small scuff that affects two names and otherwise is vg. A letter signed by Mrs. Sugar is included; it verifies that this lot is from Bert Sugar’s collection.
Winning Bid $27.
Lot 480. Circa 1925 Intercollegiate Foot Ball Tin Litho Game by Hustler Toy Corporation. The spinner is in good working order on this classic game, which features attractive football graphics. One wire that extends across the field is absent, and some indentations are present. A letter signed by Mrs. Sugar is included; it verifies that this item is from Bert Sugar’s collection.
Winning Bid $61.
Lot 481. Circa 1950s “The Duke” Bert Bell Official NFL Black & White Football. In honor of New York Giants owner Wellington Mara, the NFL used footballs with “The Duke” on one panel from 1941-69. Mara was called “The Duke.” Wilson produced the footballs. This specimen is interesting because the Wilson logo has been replaced by a log for Thorp Sporting Goods Inc. of Fifth Avenue, New York. Bert Bell’s name is on the ball as the NFL commissioner, a position he held from 1945 until his death in 1959. The ball is white with black stripes. An owner’s name, which is no longer readable, is one a panel, and another may hold an autograph that his no longer discernible. The leather shows some cracking. The printed areas remain strong. Vg. A letter signed by Mrs. Sugar is included; it verifies that this item is from Bert Sugar’s collection.
Winning Bid $592.
