This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/11/2020
Alexander Cartwright was a founding member of the New York Knickerbockers Baseball Club in the 1840s, one of the first organized baseball teams that established and played under a set of rules that shaped how the game is played today. For his contributions in pioneering the sport, Cartwright was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1938. The following handwritten letter is an amazing survivor from the Civil War era, penned and signed by Cartwright on this parchment paper (like tracing paper). Showing age spots and areas of fading but remarkably well-preserved given its age, the writing is harmonious but difficult to read though it is a letter to his brother Alfred, appears to discuss legal matters as the term Power of Attorney is legible, and is signed "Alick", his nickname. Accompanying the letter is an 1865 Wells Fargo & Co. telegram to his brother Benjamin discussing a partial stake in chartering a ship for transporting materials from Hawaii to Massachusetts. An amazing piece of history from the very beginnings of the sport of baseball.