Smithsonian Baseball; Inside the World's Finest Private Collections

x, 286 pages. Illustrations (many in color). Index. Selected Bibliography Format is approximately 9.5 inches by 12 inches. Berkshiremuseum bookplate signed by Stephen Wong affixed to fep. Wong, a lifelong collector of rare and historically significant baseball artifacts, has focused his collection on the relationships that underlie the game's greatest pairings and groupings items that represent the bonds that were formed among two or more players who went on to define an era: Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers, and Frank Chance; Dizzy and Daffy Dean; Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams, and the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers, to name a few. He has served as an advisor for many of the world's top collectors. A graduate of Stanford Law School, Wong spent ten years working in finance and investment banking and became an Executive Director with Goldman Sachs. The book also includes seven "tips" essays. The hobby's leading experts offer advice on collecting and authenticating artifacts, and show how to build and organize your own impressive 19th-century memorabilia or baseball card collection. Weigh the benefits of having a general collection versus a very narrow one. Find out how to store and display your collectibles. Learn to distinguish between an original first-generation photograph versus a wire photo, a vintage jersey worn at home games as opposed to one worn on the road, a player's game-used bat and one made for retail sale -- and much, much more. It's the perfect gift for any baseball fan, young or old, a baseball collectible in its own right. Contributors include David Bushing, David Hunt, Anne Jewell, Bill Mastro, Barry Sloate, and Kevin Struss. To a collector, there is no joy parallel to finding that elusive home-run ball, or a jersey worn by a legendary player. Smithsonian Baseball: Inside the World's Finest Private Collections celebrates the abiding passion for our national pastime, as witnessed by the dedication of the sport's most devoted collectors. The first chapter of Wong's book, titled Genesis, highlights the Corey R. Shanus collection of 19th-Century memorabilia. From there readers are taken on an emotional journey through the amassments of the most legendary names in sports collecting Gary Cypres, Brian Seigel, Nick Depace, Marshall Fogel, Penny Marshall, Charles Merkel, Bill DeWitt, Jr. and Bill Mastro to name a few. The bringing together of these collecting greats can only be described as ingenious. Although the idea for the book, like all ingenious ideas, is simple enough, in order to make such a project a reality, the right person must guide it. Wong is clearly the right guy for the job as he intricately weaves his love and passion for the game into a tapestry of emotions that will consume the dedicated baseball fan and intrigue those who perhaps just catch a game or two come October. The book is clearly a labor of love. Wong's muse saw him turn his back on the corporate world and take off on a two-and-a-half-year odyssey that took him from coast-to-coast in a quixotic search for the collectors who have reached the same legendary status in the collecting world as the Gehrigs, Ruths, DiMaggios, Aarons, and Mantles have in the nation's ballparks. The first book of its kind, Smithsonian Baseball features revealing stories and lavish photography highlighting 21 of the best private collections of baseball memorabilia in existence. From a rare copy of the first written rules of the game (1848) to Mark McGwire's record-shattering home-run ball (1998), these impressive collections span baseball's entire history. Some of the game's most historically significant artifacts are part of these private collections, yet most have never before been seen by the public. Marvel at the memorabilia as you read about the historical background of the objects and get to know each collector's passions and motivations. Some of the collections are all-encompassing; others focus on a specific era or type of memorabilia -- game-used bats, for example, or.…