IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser.

No Error: This Boston Baseball Trove is Valued at $1 Million

A collection of 1870s baseball memorabilia - signatures and rare cards from Boston Red Stockings players - has been appraised at $1 million.
Get more newsLiveon
/ Source: The Associated Press

It's outta here! A collection of 1870s baseball memorabilia - signatures and rare cards from Boston Red Stockings players - has been appraised at $1 million, the PBS program "Antiques Roadshow" said. Producer Marsha Bemko said it's the largest sports memorabilia find in the history of the 19-year-old public TV show, which travels America looking for heirlooms and treasures. The collection was brought to a taping Saturday in New York City by the owner, who inherited it from her great-great-grandmother, who ran a Boston boarding house where the team lived in 1871-72. The owner's identity was kept private for security reasons, PBS said. The show's appraiser Leila Dunbar said the "crown jewel" of the items is a May 1871 letter to the Boston landlady from three future Hall of Fame members: Albert Spalding, who became a sporting goods magnate, and brothers Harry and George Wright. The letter included the players' appreciation for their host's cooking. The Red Stockings, founded in 1871 long before the Red Sox, later moved from Boston and the team is now the Atlanta Braves.

IN DEPTH

- The Associated Press