Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

This 1914 Jewish Baseball Card Has 2 Collectors at Each Other’s Throats

Even if you’re a baseball history buff, you’ve probably never come across the name Guy Zinn.

The outfielder played only five seasons and compiled a very ordinary .269 career batting average (to be fair, it’s worth noting that he was the first ever batter in Fenway Park and one of only 11 players to ever steal home twice in one game).

But as a recent report explains, even a player as insignificant as Zinn can be the focus of a six-figure squabble among collectors — especially if that player is Jewish.

A rare card of Zinn is now pitting against each other two big collectors — Jeff Aeder, founder of the online Jewish Baseball Museum, and Dan McKee, who told the Times the worth of his collection is “too valuable to admit to.”

Dan McKee owns the card, which he bought in 1995 for $2,500.

In 2014, collector Jeff Aeder made a $125,000 bid for the card simply because Zinn was Jewish.

When Aeder asked McKee to have the card authenticated, the deal fell apart. The two have ceased talking to each other.

“If Zinn was not a Jewish player, this card is probably worth $10,000,” Aeder said.

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.

In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.

At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.

Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.

Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly. 

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.