This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 6/22/2018
Baseball's popularity began to spike at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries with pioneers like Cap Anson and Old Hoss Radbourn yielding to what many consider to be the true immortals of the sport, names like Cobb, Young, Mathewson, Wagner and Johnson. Seeing the opportunity to capitalize on the game's rising fame, companies big and small grabbed onto whatever they could to use baseball as a means to hawk their wares. It wasn't long before just about every major and minor star was seen on an advertising display, claiming that they just couldn't live without "product X" and neither should you. Most of these advertising pieces have been long discarded, but some of them still survive today. Of all the displays that are known to exist from the early 20th century, two stand out as the gold standard in the industry; the 1915 E145 Cracker Jack Display Poster, one of which was featured in a Mile High Card Company Auction in 2016, and the 1910 J. A. Peach Baseball Gloves Display featured here. It might be just a coincidence, or perhaps it was intentional, that J. A. Peach, founded by John Peach, sounded strikingly similar to A. J. Reach, the largest manufacturer of sporting goods in the United States at the time. In retrospect, the wordplay didn't pay off as very few examples of a Peach manufactured glove still exist today. Though the Peach Company was ultimately unsuccessful, they did achieve a degree of immortality by producing this incredible advertising piece, measuring approximately 19 ½” x 29 ¾” and depicting a stadium scene with various players, coaches and fans in view. What makes this piece truly breathtaking, other than it's sheer magnetism and use of color and design, is the hit parade of baseball stars that appear in the scene; virtually every major star of the time period. Of the 19 professionals in the display, 13 are members of the Hall of Fame with Cobb, Wagner, Mathewson and W. Johnson leading a group that also includes Speaker, Baker, Lajoie, Bender, Walsh, Bresnahan, Chance, McGraw and Mack. Originally discovered in lower condition, the piece has been expertly restored to a mint-like state that makes the alterations virtually undetectable to the naked eye. Given that only two other examples are known to exist, one of which resides in the Baseball Hall of Fame, this is simply the absolute pinnacle of excellence when it comes to any and all baseball-related advertising pieces.