Texas1972
03-19-2010, 12:10 PM
Hello! I am very new to the site and found it to be quite fun. There seem to be a lot of passionate memorabilia collectors out there. Fantastic!
I wanted to pose a couple questions for those who know are interested in a bit of baseball history. I am the grandson of Tom Vandergriff (for those who are not Texas Ranger fans, he is the man for virtually gave birth to the Rangers in 1972. Former mayor of 26 years, U.S. congressman, county judge). I could write endlessly about the 13 year long effort and difficulties he went through to get a major league team, but I will save you some time. If interested I can give more information. A statue of Tom Vandergriff was built at the centerfield entrance to the Ballpark leading into Vandergriff Plaza and is since a member of the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame. Anyways as to my questions...
We have almost every single piece of memorabilia during that 13 year span as well as after the move, dealing with the Rangers. I could go picture happy on this site with all of the items. Some of them include (and this is a small fraction):
-Dozens of letters written between Vandergriff and the owners/presidents of the major league teams starting in 1958 in search of a team. Hank Greenberg, Phil Wrigley, Walter O'Malley, Ford Frick, Joe Cronin, Bowie Kuhn, Gene Autry, etc.
-The Original political cartoons of the time dealing with the move.
-The correspondence between Vandergriff and the Senators/Bob Short
-Original banners and posters hung during the press conference of the announcement of the transfer
- All of the bats used by the very first team
- The very first ticket issued for the Opening Game in 1972 (which has since been encased in glass)
The items which I have questions are about are some of the balls. We have the very first pitch ever thrown, which was housed in the Legends of the Game museum but has since come back into our possession. In fact, technically, we actually have the first 3 balls thrown. I have the last ball ever thrown at that Stadium as well (Arlington stadium before the team moved to the new Ballpark). Basically, any historical ball dealing with the Rangers I probably have, from being signed to not being signed. We even have team signed balls from every single year.
Anyways, it is quite a collection and rather fun at that. At the moment, there is so much it is a little difficult finding places to store it all. Most likely, some of it will probably be donated to Cooperstown as I know some already has. My hopes though are to build some type of "personal" museum to house it all. There is just so much!
I am not too knowledgeable about what some of the items might be worth, which is why I thought some of you on here may have thoughts. I have absolutely NO intention of selling anything, but thought it would be fun to have an idea of their value. I am particularly interested in what the value of say the "First Pitch" ball is worth as well as the "First Ticket." I would assume being the first ball ever thrown in the history of the Texas Rangers would hold quite a value.
Well, for those interested I would love to hear your thoughts or if you would like seeing pictures. This post is a little long so I apologize for the rambling tone it may have! I just didn't even know where to begin! Look forward to hearing from some of yall and keep up the collecting, I think it is great!
I wanted to pose a couple questions for those who know are interested in a bit of baseball history. I am the grandson of Tom Vandergriff (for those who are not Texas Ranger fans, he is the man for virtually gave birth to the Rangers in 1972. Former mayor of 26 years, U.S. congressman, county judge). I could write endlessly about the 13 year long effort and difficulties he went through to get a major league team, but I will save you some time. If interested I can give more information. A statue of Tom Vandergriff was built at the centerfield entrance to the Ballpark leading into Vandergriff Plaza and is since a member of the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame. Anyways as to my questions...
We have almost every single piece of memorabilia during that 13 year span as well as after the move, dealing with the Rangers. I could go picture happy on this site with all of the items. Some of them include (and this is a small fraction):
-Dozens of letters written between Vandergriff and the owners/presidents of the major league teams starting in 1958 in search of a team. Hank Greenberg, Phil Wrigley, Walter O'Malley, Ford Frick, Joe Cronin, Bowie Kuhn, Gene Autry, etc.
-The Original political cartoons of the time dealing with the move.
-The correspondence between Vandergriff and the Senators/Bob Short
-Original banners and posters hung during the press conference of the announcement of the transfer
- All of the bats used by the very first team
- The very first ticket issued for the Opening Game in 1972 (which has since been encased in glass)
The items which I have questions are about are some of the balls. We have the very first pitch ever thrown, which was housed in the Legends of the Game museum but has since come back into our possession. In fact, technically, we actually have the first 3 balls thrown. I have the last ball ever thrown at that Stadium as well (Arlington stadium before the team moved to the new Ballpark). Basically, any historical ball dealing with the Rangers I probably have, from being signed to not being signed. We even have team signed balls from every single year.
Anyways, it is quite a collection and rather fun at that. At the moment, there is so much it is a little difficult finding places to store it all. Most likely, some of it will probably be donated to Cooperstown as I know some already has. My hopes though are to build some type of "personal" museum to house it all. There is just so much!
I am not too knowledgeable about what some of the items might be worth, which is why I thought some of you on here may have thoughts. I have absolutely NO intention of selling anything, but thought it would be fun to have an idea of their value. I am particularly interested in what the value of say the "First Pitch" ball is worth as well as the "First Ticket." I would assume being the first ball ever thrown in the history of the Texas Rangers would hold quite a value.
Well, for those interested I would love to hear your thoughts or if you would like seeing pictures. This post is a little long so I apologize for the rambling tone it may have! I just didn't even know where to begin! Look forward to hearing from some of yall and keep up the collecting, I think it is great!