This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 1/23/2014
Graded EX/MT+ 6.5 by PSA. Rube Marquard made headlines around the country in 1908 when the New York Giants purchased his contract for the unprecedented price of $11,000, by far the largest amount of money ever paid for a ballplayer. Initially the New York reporters called him the "$11,000 Beauty" or "$11,000 Peach," but two years later, when he was still in search of his 10th major-league victory, they derided him as the "$11,000 Lemon." Just when John McGraw was about to give up on him, Marquard won a total of 73 games from 1911 to 1913, including a 19-game winning streak in 1912 that remains the record nearly a century later; suddenly the manager was calling him the "best left-handed pitcher in baseball." A spectacular image of HOF pitcher Rube Marquard playing for the Brooklyn Nationals featuring the terrific checkerboard uniforms.