Newly discovered photographs dating back to the early 1900s are among more than 1,200 lots in RMY Auctions’ newly launched Fall Premier Auction.
One of the company’s four major events each year, the Premier Auction includes scarce images of numerous legends from sports, entertainment, history and more.
From now through November 15, we’ll present a series of 10 RMY ‘Photos of the Day’.
L
eading off is an original 1916 photograph of Shoeless Joe Jackson, taken during his first full season with the Chicago White Sox. The photo was recently pulled from an archive where it had resided for the last 98 years. RMY, which handles thousands of photographs each year, has never seen the image before either in original form or in print and their research indicates the photo is a unique image of the tragic baseball icon that likely hasn’t been seen since it was originally published.
The 5×8” photo shows Jackson taking a practice swing with his familiar Black Betsy bat, an enormous stick with which he terrorized American League pitchers. Three seasons later, of course, Jackson would become embroiled in the 1919 Black Sox scandal and would eventually be banned from professional baseball.
The silver gelatin photograph carries a newspaper file stamp of 1917 and a pencil notation of his 1916 batting average of .341, indicating it may have been used in a 1917 season preview story.
Bidding stands at $572 and will continue through November 15 at RMYAuctions.com.
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