This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/27/2017
The Cincinnati Reds are one of the oldest remaining professional baseball franchises in the sport, beginning play as a charter member of the short-live American Association in 1882. The Reds were one of the top teams of the AA, winning the very first pennant in league history with a record of 55-25. Will White, their star twirler, won 40 games for the team then known as the Red Stockings. The Cincinnati ballclub remained one of the top teams in the American Association until 1889, when they defected to the National League after a fracas with the owner of the St. Louis Browns. The now renamed Reds struggled out of the gate, forced to wait until 1919 to claim their first pennant in the Senior Circuit. Even then, their success was bittersweet, as their opponents in the 1919 Fall Classic, the Chicago White Sox, were indicted in the famous Black Sox scandal that threatened to rip apart Major League Baseball.
This ornate silver pass granted admission to every Reds home game of the 1899 season, their tenth in the National League. The Reds were skippered by Buck Ewing, a former Major League catcher and future Hall of Famer. In his fifth season with the Reds, the career .303 hitter led them to a respectable 83-67 record and a sixth place finish in the National League. Hall of Fame first baseman Jake Beckley paced the offense, hitting .333 with three home runs and 99 RBI in the 12th season of his career.
1899 was a transitional year for the Reds, as second baseman Bid McPhee played in his 18th and final season with the Reds. The last remaining player from their first year in 1882, the Hall of Famer hit .279 with 65 RBI and 18 stolen bases as he gracefully aged out of professional baseball. McPhee, who played every game of his career with the Reds, was famous for eschewing the help of a fielding glove during the first 14 years of his career, preferring instead to pluck the ball from the dirt with his calloused hands.
Two players who would enjoy short but spectacular careers with the Reds debuted in 1899. Outfielder Sam Rice, one of the most elegant, pure hitters in baseball history, played 31 games as a 19 year old in ’99. Rice, MLB’s all-time leader in triples, played the first four seasons of his Hall of Fame career in Cincinnati red.
The other debutant was Noodles Hahn, a young pitcher who won 23 games in his first National League campaign. The second youngest pitcher to ever win 100 games, Hahn proved that the flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long. By the time he turned 28, the star pitcher fell victim to the workhorse mentality of the deadball era, his snappy left arm rendered putty by his monumental workload.
This 3.75 x 2.5 inch embossed metal pass ensured that its recipient, Major Thomas M. Defrees, had a chance to witness every home game at League Park (referred to as Cincinnati Base Ball Park on this pass) during this historic season. Players like Honus Wagner, Kid Nichols, Ed Delahanty, Nap Lajoie, and Willie Keeler all visited League Park during the season. Defrees’ name is etched on the bottom of this pass, as well as the facsimile signature of team owner John T. Brush. This pass is in tremendous shape, with only light signs of aging present on the reverse side. An exemplary piece of baseball history, this pass represents an incredibly nostalgic era of baseball.