Historical Hockey Memorabilia Auction Winter 2019
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Playing the important position of rover during the era of seven-men-a-side hockey, Hobey Baker spent a pair of seasons with the St. Nicholas Hockey Club in 1914-15 and 1915-16, averaging better than a goal-a-game during his time with the club. We have an impressive grouping of 5 especially rare items associated with the World War I casualty. Included, we have a pair of ticket stubs for the St Nicholas Skating Rink from 1915 for an unknown event, followed by a 1913 Boston Arena hockey program for an exhibition match between Princeton and the B.A.A., with Baker in the line-up. Next, we have a photo of Baker removed from a memorial program, along with a copy of the Princeton Pictorial Review Hockey Number from Jan 24th 1914, with images of both Baker and the 1913-14 Princeton hockey team.
The ticket stubs are approx 1 ½” x 1 ½” give or take, with the “1915” date visible, along with “vs” and the remaining part of “varsity”, with these most likely originating from a hockey match, possibly against Baker and the St. Nicholas Hockey Club. Both stubs show light handling wear, with residue over each reverse from scrapbook removal. The Boston Arena program is 6 ½” x 7” and in low grade, with the pages detached and the covers almost separated. There is also toning and staining with a few creases. Baker is listed in the line-up, with wonderful hockey graphics over the back cover. The memorial program picture is approx 6” x 9”, with a creased top edge and rough left border (from program removal), while the scarce Princeton Pictorial Review Hockey Number is just under 8” x 11”, with a great hockey photo cover. With an individual image of Baker along with a Princeton team photo, the publication survives admirably, with just minor handling wear and toning, with a faint stain and corner crease over the lower front cover.
Earning almost mythical status and heavily collected despite the intervening century since his passing, Hobart Amory Hare Baker was born in Pennsylvania just before the close of the Victorian era, in 1892. Hailing from a prominent Philadelphia family and the epitome of an attractive blond-haired All-American, Hobey excelled at sport while attending St. Paul's School in Concord, later starring on both the ice rink and gridiron for Princeton. Three successful years would be spent in the Ivy League, with his most notable accomplishments never fumbling a punt for the Tigers, and never losing to Yale. Baker would then add heroics to his growing legend, receiving the Croix de Guerre from the French government for his service as a fighter pilot during the Great War, later losing his life in December of 1918 during a test flight. Widely recognized by contemporaries as one of the greatest natural athletes, Baker would be one of the first nine players inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame upon its founding in 1945, and the only American.
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