1938 NEGRO LEAGUES "NATIONAL VS AMERICAN LEAGUE STARS/YANKEE STADIUM" BUTTON WITH RIBBON.
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Winning Bid:
$863.82
(Includes 18% Buyer's Premium)
Bidding Ended:
Tuesday, June 29, 2021 9:00:00 PM (20 Minute Clock Begins At Tuesday, June 29, 2021 9:00:00 PM)
Item Description
Only example known to Hake's. 1.75" w/curl naming Phila. Badge Co. and blank but original back paper. Spring pin holds ribbon. Button has baseball design w/stitching. Pittsburgh Crawfords owner and Negro National League President, Gus Greenlee, now deep in debt, had an idea to generate revenue by staging another All-Star exhibition game following the success of the East-West game played in every year since 1933 in Chicago's Comiskey Park. This new proposed All-Star game would be played in New York, and at the end of the regular season. The game was to be played on Sunday, September 18, 1938 at Yankee Stadium (as noted on this button). It was billed as the "First Annual Negro Baseball Classic," and instead of East-West, the two squads were composed of National-American league stars. Greenlee's luck that year was all bad though as the game was rained out. The make-up game was scheduled one week later, September 25, 1938, and the new location was the Polo Grounds (last auction we sold the Muchinsky example from this location for $1,998). While the make-up game at the Polo Grounds was played, the costs of staging both games further added to Greenlee's debt. Later that year Greenlee Field was demolished for non-payment of taxes. Greenlee resigned as President of the National Negro League in 1939 and also disbanded the Crawfords. What was intended to be an annual All-Star event became a one-off. Ribbon is aged and worn with some splits and fraying but remains intact and attached. VG. Button has lt. surface wear and few tiny age dots, mostly only seen upon close inspection. Surface remains glossy. VF. Paul Muchinsky Collection.
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