Lot # 17: Incredible 1913 Homestead Grays Large-Format Team Cabinet Photo w/Cum Posey (HOF)

Category: Featured Items

Starting Bid: $1,500.00

Bids: 4 (Bid History)

Time Left: Auction closed
Lot / Auction Closed




This lot is closed. Bidding is not allowed.

Item was in Auction "Spring, 2018 Auction",
which ran from 3/8/2018 6:00 AM to
3/25/2018 8:26 AM



Extremely important large-format team cabinet photo of the Homestead Grays featuring team founder and Hall of Famer Cumberland Posey. The team image features fifteen players including Posey (center row third from left) with a caption reading "Homestead Grays Champions of Homestead & Vicinity 1913." Homestead is a Pennsylvania steel town outside Pittsburgh and the Homestead Steel Mill became a sponsor of a baseball team of black mill workers that eventually became known as the Homestead Grays. To strengthen the team they purchased uniforms and equipment elected John Freyl Alexander team president and choosing player Jerry Veney to manage and organize the club. Posey by 1913 had become captain of the team replacing Veney as manager in 1916. The 1913 team won an astonishing 42 games in a row! Pictured in the photo are the following: FRONT ROW L-R: Ben Pace Jerry Veney (manager) Emmett Campbell. MIDDLE ROW L-R: Pete Peatros Eric Russell Cum Posey Sel Hall John W. Veney Bob Hopson Hubert Sanders. BACK ROW L-R: Henry Saunders Sam Smith B.F. Alexander Roy Horne Ralph Blackburn. This is one of the earliest images of the team in existence and the first known original photo of the team with only a handful of examples known. The photo is one of the only known photos of Posey as a player and certainly the earliest. The 9.5 x 7.5" photo is affixed to a cardboard mount to a finished size of 13.75 x 11". The photo itself exhibits some very minor fading and foxing but is otherwise outstanding in clarity and crispness. The mount is severely worn with corner clips and tears on both left corners and a pronounced tear across the upper-right corner none of which interfere with or mar the photo. The bottom edge of the mount has been trimmed away. The mount can certainly be professionally repaired or replaced however the photo itself remains outstanding. Photo comes with an informative LOA from the late Negro League expert Frank J. Ceresi. An outstanding historically significant photo.

Views: 202