Berkon: A Jewish player’s 1914 baseball card triggers $125,000 dispute
From Ben Berkon at the New York Times on December 18, 2016, with mention of SABR member John Thorn:
More than a hundred years after Guy Zinn last appeared in a major-league game, his baseball card is causing a commotion.
The fuss has nothing to do with Zinn’s skill. His playing career yielded some distinctions — including his being one of 11 players to steal home twice in a game and appearing as the first batter in Fenway Park. But most of his statistics over five major-league seasons, including a .269 career batting average, suggest that he was a very ordinary athlete.
The trait that set Zinn apart, and made his baseball card unusually valuable, was his ethnicity. Zinn was Jewish, which all but guaranteed him a following for generations. A fan subculture has long coalesced around Jewish ballplayers, so much so that their cards have a special category on eBay.
Jeff Aeder, a Chicago real estate developer, is one of the most prominent figures in that subculture, and a 1914 Zinn card owned by a Maryland man has become, as other collectors describe it, Aeder’s holy grail. It is believed to be the only card of its type still in existence.
Read the full article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/18/sports/baseball/baseball-card-collectors-guy-zinn.html
Originally published: December 19, 2016. Last Updated: December 19, 2016.