Spalding's Official Base Ball Record, 1913
Price: $450.00
Original Wraps. New York: American Sports Publishing Co., 1913. First Edition. Very Good.
Publisher's red, white, and blue pictorial wrappers, with batter to front wrapper. Very good or better, with shallow chipping to spine ends, light wear and creasing to edges, a tiny bit of soiling to rear panel, and a bit of insect damage to bottom corners of the first few pages. Overall, a pleasing copy. This guide covers the 1912 baseball season, which ended with the Red Sox defeating the New York Giants four games to three (with one tie) to win the World Series. The guide includes a number of photos from the 1912 World Series, including one of the great Christy Mathewson on the mound (p. 32). Spalding's Official Base Ball Record was published from 1908 to 1924 (from 1926 to 1932, the publication's name was changed to the Little Red Book). The first issue was edited by the "Father of Baseball," Henry Chadwick. The legendary baseball figure passed away in 1908, and longtime sportswriter John B. Foster took over editorial duties. The preface to the 1909 issue includes a description of the Record guide and Spalding's aims in producing it: "While the Record is primarily a statistical resume of the past season in the professional arena, it also contains a wealth of information that has heretofore been practically inaccessible to Base Ball lovers, and with the addition of new records and previously unchronicled events, that will be compiled from year to year, it is the ambition of the publishers to attain for the Record in its field the same eminence that is now occupied by the Spalding Guide as the recognized authority on the National Game." Item #JBF009
