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January 9, 2009

Woman Finds 139-Year-Old Baseball Card

Fresno Bee, December 31, 2008:
Bernice Gallego sat down one day this summer, as she does pretty much every day, and began listing items on eBay.

She dug into a box and pulled out a baseball card. She stopped for a moment and admired the picture. "Red Stocking B.B. Club of Cincinnati," the card read, under a sepia tone photo of 10 men with their socks pulled up to their knees. The card itself was dirty and wrinkled in a few places.

It was definitely old, Gallego thought. ... She did what she does with most items: Took a picture, wrote a description and put it up for auction. She put a $10 price tag on it, deciding against $15 because it would have cost her an extra 20 cents.
The card was produced in 1869 -- 139 years ago -- and features the Cincinnati Red Stockings, the first professional team in baseball history.



The story was also posted to Deadspin and Yahoo's Big League Stew (thanks to reader Richard C).
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10 comments:

  1. andyJanuary 9, 2009 at 11:46 AM

    Dave Roberts is dead. Not the base stealing phenom, the pitcher.

    ReplyDelete
  2. laura kJanuary 9, 2009 at 3:32 PM

    Wow. Wow wow.

    Not Dave Roberts, Bernice Gallego.

    ReplyDelete
  3. BenjaminJanuary 10, 2009 at 11:09 AM

    But we got Takashi Saito, and we didn't have to give EBay a cut.

    ReplyDelete
  4. FenFanJanuary 10, 2009 at 11:14 AM

    I would swear that the figure in the second card is Josh Beckett's great-great-great-grandfather.

    ReplyDelete
  5. accudartJanuary 10, 2009 at 2:23 PM

    Allan, I'm now less impressed about your tabacco cards...

    ReplyDelete
  6. andyJanuary 10, 2009 at 3:06 PM

    I didn't read the articles and I am sure this is heavily discussed but that is over there and I only write here, but authentic?
    I can see this being made today with readily available technology no more than what is in an everyday home. That picture is on Ken Burns baseball. It was just on MLBtv which I hear Rogers is getting in America's Hat.

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  7. laura kJanuary 10, 2009 at 3:28 PM

    I can see this being made today with readily available technology no more than what is in an everyday home.

    I'm sure it was authenticated. If it was in dispute, all the stories would say that, no?

    That picture is on Ken Burns baseball. It was just on MLBtv which I hear Rogers is getting in America's Hat.

    Fortunately we saw that when it was first released. Since we won't be forking over even more money to Rogers and/or MLB.

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  8. laura kJanuary 10, 2009 at 6:04 PM

    So I go over to Deadspin to look at the story, and idiot commenters are making fun of the elderly woman who found the card.

    Then I remember why I don't hang around 99.9% of baseball blogs out there.

    YUCK.

    ReplyDelete
  9. allanJanuary 10, 2009 at 6:27 PM

    Is there a spare catcher on that team?

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  10. UnknownJanuary 10, 2009 at 9:39 PM

    Is there a spare catcher on that team?

    HA! I guffawed out loud, over here.

    I just found out that Michael Snow has a sculpture at the Rogers Center. That's... weird.

    ReplyDelete