Photography Class: A Series Capturing the Nuances of Vintage Baseball Photography Collecting

1 minute

One could argue that sports photography’s origins lie within the game of baseball. The desire of fans to see images of their favorite players spawned several collecting hobbies and including sports card collecting and a multi-million-dollar industry that relies heavily upon photography. Holding a card of one’s favorite baseball player is difficult to convey to those who don’t understand the hobby but for those who “get it,” enjoy every aspect of the photo that is displayed on the card’s obverse. Collecting vintage baseball photography takes this feeling to an new level of satisfaction. Acquiring an image of a star baseball player from 70-80 years ago that was captured, developed and printed at that time stirs a significant fire within those afflicted with the passion.

As is the case with so many areas of collecting – especially those with the potential for significantly elevated values – the opportunity for sellers to create (vintage photograph) auction listings with erroneous, misleading information and details or are fakes (copies: modern reproductions of the original photographs) that are being sold as originals or vintage images, is a considerable minefield that can pose problems for even the most experienced and knowledgeable collectors. In addition, this genre can be challenging enough for novices or newcomers when trying to determine the differences between a Type-1, news, or wire photo. This section of Chevrons and Diamonds was created to provide an education to novice and veteran collector alike.

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VetCollector

I have been blogging about Militaria since 2010 when I was hired to write for the A&E/History Channel-funded Collectors Quest (CQ) site. It was strange for me to have been asked as I was not, by any means, an expert on militaria nor had I ever written on a recurring basis beyond my scholastic newspaper experience (many MANY decades ago). After nearly two years, CQ was shut down and I discovered that I was enjoying the work and I had learned a lot about my subject matter over that period of time. I served for a decade in the U.S. Navy and descend from a long line of veterans who helped to forge this nation from its infancy all the way through all of the major conflicts to present day and have done so in every branch of the armed forces (except the USMC). I began to take an interest in militaria when I inherited uniforms, uniform items, decorations from my relatives. I also inherited some militaria of the vanquished of WWII that my relatives brought home, furthering my interest. Before my love of militaria, I was interested in baseball history. Beyond vintage baseball cards (early 1970s and back) and some assorted game-used items and autographs, I had a nominal collecting focus until I connected my militaria collecting with baseball. Since then, I have been selectively growing in each area and these two blogs are the result, Chevrons and Diamonds (https://chevronsanddiamonds.wordpress.com/) The Veterans Collection (https://veteranscollection.org/)

Photography Class: A Series Capturing the Nuances of Vintage Baseball Photography Collecting

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