A Great Collector Who Flew Under the Radar
Stone193
Posts: 24,438 ✭✭✭✭✭
Over at Net54 there was a query about who the top 100 hobbyists may be...
Well, in case people may have missed a spot about this individual - I thought I'ld share with you someone who was a "serious" collector in the hobby way before guys like Halper, Olbermann etc. This is a bit of a long read - I don't remember posting it? Tackle it when ya got a few minutes - I think you'll find it interesting.
Before we had Barry Halper, e.g., much to my surprise there was Joe E. Brown. While many remember Brown for his comedy, did you know that he was quite the athlete and baseball enthusiast, as well? He played semi-pro baseball with the National Vaudeville Artists team and served as part owner of the minor league Kansas City Blues in the 1950s. So strong was his passion for the all-American pastime, he passed his love of the game down to his son, Joe L. Brown, who went on to become manager of the Pirates in 1955.
Being the consummate sports enthusiast, some of his best films were the baseball trilogy which consisted of Fireman Save My Child (1932), Elmer the Great (1933) and Alibi Ike (1935)
Brown was a pioneering collector of baseball memorabilia. These prized possessions included Hall of Famer Tris Speaker's spikes from the 1920 World Series; Pittsburgh Pirate Paul Waner's bat from one of Big Poison's National League batting title years (Waner's younger brother Lloyd, also an excellent hitter, was known as "Little Poison"); a Babe Ruth bat from the Bambino's legendary 60-home run season in 1927; and Gas House Gang pitcher Dizzy Dean's St. Louis Cardinals uniform from the 1934 World Series, which eventually found its way to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Brown's most prized item, however, was a gift from his New York Yankee pal Lou Gehrig. At the end of the 1939 season, in which Gehrig had given his now celebrated "luckiest man on the face of the Earth" speech (after being forced from the game by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), the "Iron Horse" gave Brown his last first baseman's glove which he played his 2,130 consecutive games. It meant everything to Gehrig, but he wanted to make sure it would pass into hands that would truly cherish it. Joe kept these many trophies in his Room of Love. (I couldn't figure out how to steal this pic?)
Joe collected all sorts of important sports memorabilia, eventually donating much of it to U.C.L.A. Many do not know that he was once offered a contract himself to play with the New York Yankees. However, he turned it down because he was making headway on Broadway.
Also, Brown got to sit on the bench at football games like UCLA where his son played. He, thus, collected balls from important college games.
So, how did Joe acquire these great pieces of sports history? Ebay? SCD? The National? Joe was actually invited to sit in the dugout at games and became friendly with great players like Ruth, Gehrig, Cobb etc. And, it was at these very games, e.g., that many of the items were given to him.
An interesting side note to his relationship with Ty Cobb… In his last days Cobb spent some time with the old movie comedian Joe E. Brown, talking about the choices Cobb had made in his life. He told Brown that he felt that he had made mistakes, and that he would do things differently if he could. He had played hard and lived hard all his life, and had no friends to show for it at the end, and he regretted it. Publicly, however, Cobb claimed not to have any regrets: "I've been lucky. I have no right to be regretful of what I did" (Newsweek, July 31 1961, 54). I found this to be an interesting revelation about the flamboyant Cobb persona.
Additionally, here’s an interesting tidbit about a uni given to Brown by Cobb: Robert Shell, 15, of Baraboo, Wisconsin, whose dream it is to become the curator at the Baseball Hall of Fame, said he bought 36 packs of Upper Deck baseball cards, filled in all the entries for the contest, and was thrilled to win Ty Cobb's autographed 1928 Philadelphia Athletics home jersey. It is the jersey Cobb gave to comedian Joe E. Brown, and it sold to an absentee bidder, underbid by a phone bidder, for $236,500 with buyer's premium.
And everything that goes around...this jersey found it's way into Halper's collection from the Brown family according to the Hunt auction catalog.
I think this has been an interesting addition to my understanding of the people who pioneered this great hobby of ours. There was a small reference to Brown in this weeks SCD (an article in a 1936 Hobbies magazine) which gave me the impetus to search the net for more info on him.
mike
Well, in case people may have missed a spot about this individual - I thought I'ld share with you someone who was a "serious" collector in the hobby way before guys like Halper, Olbermann etc. This is a bit of a long read - I don't remember posting it? Tackle it when ya got a few minutes - I think you'll find it interesting.
Before we had Barry Halper, e.g., much to my surprise there was Joe E. Brown. While many remember Brown for his comedy, did you know that he was quite the athlete and baseball enthusiast, as well? He played semi-pro baseball with the National Vaudeville Artists team and served as part owner of the minor league Kansas City Blues in the 1950s. So strong was his passion for the all-American pastime, he passed his love of the game down to his son, Joe L. Brown, who went on to become manager of the Pirates in 1955.
Being the consummate sports enthusiast, some of his best films were the baseball trilogy which consisted of Fireman Save My Child (1932), Elmer the Great (1933) and Alibi Ike (1935)
Brown was a pioneering collector of baseball memorabilia. These prized possessions included Hall of Famer Tris Speaker's spikes from the 1920 World Series; Pittsburgh Pirate Paul Waner's bat from one of Big Poison's National League batting title years (Waner's younger brother Lloyd, also an excellent hitter, was known as "Little Poison"); a Babe Ruth bat from the Bambino's legendary 60-home run season in 1927; and Gas House Gang pitcher Dizzy Dean's St. Louis Cardinals uniform from the 1934 World Series, which eventually found its way to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Brown's most prized item, however, was a gift from his New York Yankee pal Lou Gehrig. At the end of the 1939 season, in which Gehrig had given his now celebrated "luckiest man on the face of the Earth" speech (after being forced from the game by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), the "Iron Horse" gave Brown his last first baseman's glove which he played his 2,130 consecutive games. It meant everything to Gehrig, but he wanted to make sure it would pass into hands that would truly cherish it. Joe kept these many trophies in his Room of Love. (I couldn't figure out how to steal this pic?)
Joe collected all sorts of important sports memorabilia, eventually donating much of it to U.C.L.A. Many do not know that he was once offered a contract himself to play with the New York Yankees. However, he turned it down because he was making headway on Broadway.
Also, Brown got to sit on the bench at football games like UCLA where his son played. He, thus, collected balls from important college games.
So, how did Joe acquire these great pieces of sports history? Ebay? SCD? The National? Joe was actually invited to sit in the dugout at games and became friendly with great players like Ruth, Gehrig, Cobb etc. And, it was at these very games, e.g., that many of the items were given to him.
An interesting side note to his relationship with Ty Cobb… In his last days Cobb spent some time with the old movie comedian Joe E. Brown, talking about the choices Cobb had made in his life. He told Brown that he felt that he had made mistakes, and that he would do things differently if he could. He had played hard and lived hard all his life, and had no friends to show for it at the end, and he regretted it. Publicly, however, Cobb claimed not to have any regrets: "I've been lucky. I have no right to be regretful of what I did" (Newsweek, July 31 1961, 54). I found this to be an interesting revelation about the flamboyant Cobb persona.
Additionally, here’s an interesting tidbit about a uni given to Brown by Cobb: Robert Shell, 15, of Baraboo, Wisconsin, whose dream it is to become the curator at the Baseball Hall of Fame, said he bought 36 packs of Upper Deck baseball cards, filled in all the entries for the contest, and was thrilled to win Ty Cobb's autographed 1928 Philadelphia Athletics home jersey. It is the jersey Cobb gave to comedian Joe E. Brown, and it sold to an absentee bidder, underbid by a phone bidder, for $236,500 with buyer's premium.
And everything that goes around...this jersey found it's way into Halper's collection from the Brown family according to the Hunt auction catalog.
I think this has been an interesting addition to my understanding of the people who pioneered this great hobby of ours. There was a small reference to Brown in this weeks SCD (an article in a 1936 Hobbies magazine) which gave me the impetus to search the net for more info on him.
mike
Mike
0
Comments
He was a pretty good actor too. Keep the intersting posts coming!
Your friend, Joe
"I spent 50% of my money on alcohol, women, and gambling. The other half I wasted.
<< <i>Mike, I just recently learned of Joe's passion for collecting.
He was a pretty good actor too. Keep the intersting posts coming!
Your friend, Joe >>
Thanx doubleD
I want this to stay on top - I believe it's good for us to read and know about some of these people who were the early collectors in the hobby.
Plus, Cobb's confession to Brown is quite interesting!
mike
Steve
For those who might not know Joe via his earlier work, you'd probably recognize him as the glasses-wearing yacht guy most notable for his closing line in M. Monroe's "Some Like it Hot" - "Well, no one's perfect!"
Original
How did you do that? I did look in one place where the language was but couldn't find anything that looked like the http/URL address.
PM me if you get the chance.
Thanx
mike
<< <i>Over at Net54 there was a query about who the top 100 hobbyists may be...
Well, in case people may have missed a spot about this individual >>
Nobody's perfect.
Original
Here's my attempt - for who are wondering what we're doing? This photo had a block on it.
I went to the "source" of the language for the page and carefully scrolled down and located the http address - interestingly - when I copied the URL address and put it into my "Word" - I was able to open the link from there - but if I copied the address into the "links" at CU - it didn't work - so I had to paste the pic into "MyPics" and then host it myself.
For those who don't do this stuff - let's just say I had to to from NYC to Cleveland by way of Memphis!
Thanx again guys
Merry Christmas
mike
Joe Brown looks as though he knew how to put together a killer display!