By John Erardi
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The 1869 "trophy baseballs" from the Red Stockings' whirlwind 21-game tour of the northeast that summer, during which the best teams of that region were all defeated by Cincinnati's finest. (File photo) | ZOOM |

It is an "historic" week for the Reds. A wooden case of 17 "trophy balls" traceable to the Cincinnati Red Stockings' famous eastern road trip in the summer of 1869 - a piece that apparently only its owner knew existed - went up for auction Monday at a minimum bid of $100,000.

And, coincidently, Cooperstown's "Baseball as America" traveling exhibit bearing some Reds artifacts from the Hall of Fame will be unveiled for the media Friday. The exhibit will be opened to the public Saturday for a three-month run at the Cincinnati Museum Center.

The biggest stir has been created by the 17 gold-painted trophy balls, because none of the experts in the field of 19th century baseball realized such a treasure trove of balls was out there.

"Astounding," said the Hall of Fame's Tom Shieber.

"Like the discovery of the gold of Troy," said Darryl Brock, author of the best-selling, Red Stockings-themed novel, If I Never Get Back and its sequel, Two in the Field.

"An unbelievable find," said Steve Wolter, owner of Sports Investments Inc., in Montgomery.

The bidding on the piece might not get stratospheric, simply because the piece is so rare nobody knows what it's worth.

But, as an historical treasure, it is priceless, the experts said.

"It's amazing that it's even out there," said Shieber, curator of new media for the Baseball Hall of Fame. "I don't know where it came from . . . It's astounding that this would not have been unearthed until 135 years later."

A national rage

In the summer of 1869, the Red Stockings became a national rage when they traveled east and knocked off all of the hotshot clubs of New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. Later that summer, they toured California on the just-completed Transcontinental Railroad and beat all the clubs out there. They finished at least 57-0 that season, and although they lost some games in 1870 and disbanded, their on-field success led to the creation of the first professional league in 1871, and ultimately to the creation of the National League in 1876.

As such, Cincinnati is known as the birthplace of professional baseball, and the Reds will utilize that as a central theme when they open a museum at Great American Ball Park next summer.

"It (the collection of 1869 eastern tour trophy balls) is an historical treasure - a baseball treasure, and a local treasure," said author Brock. "It belongs in Cincinnati . . . It's undreamt of. It was assumed to have vanished."

Reds won't bid

John Allen, the Reds chief operating officer, is aware of the treasure's existence. The policy of the club - like that of every other club in baseball and the National Hall of Fame itself - is to not bid on any memorabilia, because to do so would dry up the donating and lending market that feeds museums.

Should a local philanthropist come forward to ensure the piece winds up in the Reds museum, the display case with its collection of 1869 trophy balls would be the centerpiece of the museum because of its connection to the first professional team, Wolter said.

He estimated that the collection could wind up selling for as much as "$150,000 to $200,000."

"But I'd be surprised if it (sold for) $400,000 or $500,000," because the piece is so rare its value is uncertain, Wolter said.

It's possible the piece might even sell for the $100,000 minimum, he said.

The presence of so many balls "waters down" their individual value, he noted. Based on that, Wolter doesn't foresee whomever buys the piece breaking it up and selling off the balls individually.

The wooden case, with its engraved "1869" on the front, is not a period piece, Wolter said.

"It (the wooden case) is not original - it dates to the 1920s or 1930s," Wolter said. "That has come out in later articles."

Wolter saw the collection of 1869 balls two weeks ago at the National Sports Collectors Association Convention and deemed it "impressive."

"It very definitely is high-end," Wolter said.

Auction houses typically say almost nothing about the person who has consigned the item or collection for the auction house to sell. But MastroNet's Bill Mastro said some of the consignor's collection was once in the possession of Henry Chadwick, a New York journalist who championed the pro game as it was played by the Red Stockings. It isn't known for certain if this piece was in Chadwick's collection, Mastro said.

As with all great treasures, the piece comes with at least a hint of mystery.

According to an Enquirer story on April 17, 1872, the Red Stockings auctioned off numerous club artifacts on April 16, 1872.

Among those artifacts were four "trophy baseballs" specifically identified as being from the 1869 eastern tour. Back in those days, the losing club gave the victorious club the ball to symbolize supremacy.

Auction of 1872

At the 1872 auction, two trophy balls sold for $3 each, one for $3.50 and one for $10.

Those four balls have never resurfaced, and are not part of the 17-ball collection being auctioned by MastroNet. A fifth trophy ball, which was not identified in that 1872 newspaper article as being part of the previous day's auction, did resurface last year, and sold for $61,000.

There is a nail hole in that ball, and there is a nail protruding from the top of the wooden case that houses the 17 balls that is being auctioned.

Did somebody withhold 18 trophy balls from the 1872 auction? Why were four balls from the 1869 eastern tour auctioned that day in 1872, when apparently the rest of the balls were not? Did everybody in the last 135 years of ownership know what they were sitting on? And how does this all square with those who say this wooden case wasn't made before the 1920s?

The auction lasts for three weeks. Perhaps some more answers will be forthcoming.

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To register for the auction, either go online to www.mastronet.com or call (630) 472-1200.