Collectors’ Item
Last month, a California man made collectors history when he sold his 1909 Honus Wagner baseball card for a record-setting $2.35 million. Next month, Martin Abramowitz, the driving force behind Jewish Major Leaguers — an outfit dedicated to documenting “American Jews in America’s Game” — will be celebrating a comparable, if significantly less pricey, piece of baseball memorabilia: The Most Valuable Jewish Baseball Card.
In its 2007 update edition, set to be released as the new baseball season begins, the Boston-based not-for-profit will include a reproduction not of Sandy Koufax’s rookie card (estimated worth: under $1,000), but of the only known copy of the 1914 Guy Zinn. Cards of Zinn and his teammates on the Baltimore Terrapins (one of eight franchises in the short-lived Federal League) were distributed as a newspaper insert in the Baltimore News. The card is said to be worth between $2,400 and $8,000, depending on condition.
Did you know that only 2% of Forward readers donate to support our nonprofit newsroom? That 2% make it possible for millions to read the Forward without a paywall or subscription — removing any barriers to the full and fair Jewish story.
But while the Forward is free to read, it isn’t free to produce. Big stories — like deep dives into the antisemitism data, political scoops or reporting trips to college campuses — take months of research and fact-checking. All while we keep you informed of what you need to know each day.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Forward Publisher & CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
