LAGUNA NIGUEL, CALIF. — Like a heavyweight prizefight, online bidders were trading blow for blow in hot pursuit of the historical 1857 “Laws of Base Ball” documents in SCP Auctions’ 2016 spring Premier auction, which concluded early in the morning of April 24. Once the dust had settled, an eye-popping high bid of $3,263,246 secured the precious baseball pages whose author was recently identified as Daniel Lucius “Doc” Adams. Adams was then serving as president of the New York Knickerbockers Base Ball Club and drafted the manuscript for presentation at the historic Base Ball Convention of 1857 in New York City. Adams’ “Laws of Base Ball” were the focal point of the convention and among dozens of newly proposed rules and guidelines established for the first time, including setting the base paths at 90 feet, the number of men to a side at nine and the duration of the game at nine innings.
“The ‘Laws of Base Ball’ is a document of unparalleled importance in the history of America’s national pastime, said SCP Auctions’ vice president Dan Imler. “Its gravitas was recognized by a diverse collection of astute bidders who pushed the bidding to a record level. This figure represents not only the highest price ever paid for a baseball document, but the third highest price ever for any piece of sports memorabilia.”
By comparison, two other foundational sports documents that have sold at public auction include James Naismith’s 1891 “Original Rules of Basketball,” which sold for $4.3 million in 2010, and “The 1859 Original Rules of Soccer,” which sold for $1.4 million in 2011.
The overall auction, which featured 1,310 lots, including 166 from the Don Drysdale estate collection, brought in a total of $7.2 million. Other top bids included a 1952 Topps Baseball complete set, $125,331; an extremely rare collection of unused, graded tickets representing all 50 Super Bowls, $100,026; and the historic August 23, 1989, signed agreement between Major League Baseball and Pete Rose that banned Rose from baseball for life, $85,602.
Prices reported include the buyer’s premium. For information, www.scpauctions.com or 949-831-3700.
