FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — July 26, 2010
TEAM BASEBALLS: ARTIFACTS OF THE GAME
Artifact Publishing — 180 pages
For a century now, Major League baseball teams have signed baseballs in their clubhouses. At first they were signed in very small numbers to commemorate a successful season, and gradually they came to be produced by all teams as mementos. Now widely collected, those baseballs—called “team baseballs” or “team balls”—are the subject of a new book by John M. Mitnick and James J. Spence, Jr., titled Team Baseballs: Artifacts of the Game (Artifact Publishing, McLean, Virginia).
With over 150 full color illustrations, Team Baseballs takes a comprehensive, informative, and entertaining look at these artifacts of baseball history, intended for collectors at all levels and baseball fans and historians. The authors cover the definition, history, classification, authentication, grading, valuation, acquisition, preservation, and storage of team balls. The controversial topic of “clubhouse signatures”—player “signatures” forged by clubhouse employees—is also given a thorough treatment. A Gallery is included, with photographs of 45 historically significant championship and All-Star team balls from 1920 through 2008, featuring hundreds of authentic signatures including Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mel Ott, Jackie Robinson, Walter Johnson, Hank Greenberg, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Hank Aaron, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Roy Campanella, Sandy Koufax, Roberto Clemente, Willie Mays, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Roger Maris, Thurman Munson, and many other greats of the game.
The authors’ expertise is unmatched in this area. Mr. Mitnick (www.teambaseballs.com), a division general counsel at a Fortune 100 company who formerly served in the White House as an associate counsel to President George W. Bush, has collected team balls for nearly two decades and has one of the finest collections in the country. Mr. Spence (www.spenceloa.com) is a professional autograph authenticator with over 30 years of sports memorabilia industry experience, who numbers among his many clients major auction houses as well as law enforcement agencies and insurance companies.
Among the praise already garnered by Team Baseballs, John Thorn, renowned baseball historian and author of Total Baseball, writes: “From the gilded trophy balls of the Civil War era to the team-signed balls from last year’s World Series, the inscribed baseball has been a way to mark a team and a season so as to defy the passage of time. Whether you collect team-signed baseballs, or intend to buy one, or only admire them from afar, this is the book for you. Authors Mitnick and Spence are the experts and will steer you clear of forgeries, facsimile balls, deceptive clubhouse signers, and a severe case of buyer’s remorse.”
Team Baseballs will be officially released in conjunction with the 2010 National Sports Collectors Convention to be held at the Baltimore Convention Center, August 4-8. The book ($29.95 suggested retail price) will be available for purchase at the James Spence Authentication (JSA) booth at the show, and the authors will be on-hand. The book is also available for purchase on the JSA website (www.spenceloa,com) and will shortly be available at Amazon.com and other online booksellers.
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Contact: Scott Cooper, 609-391-8166, occcooper@aol.com
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