Auction Item Details
Lot 877
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Lot Number: 877
Description: Important James "Deacon" White professional baseball spider style catcher's mask c.1880s. During his early playing days with the Cleveland Forest City team, Deacon White was credited with making many innovations to the catcher's position; among these, he was the first professional catcher to wear a glove and to stand up behind the plate. Although White's notable accomplishments are many, he may be best remembered for being the first professional baseball player to wear a catcher's mask during game play. The following excerpts from a 1920s newspaper interview with Deacon White perhaps best tell the story: One day during the season of 1875 at Boston, the papers announced that "The man with the iron mask would play a game of baseball for Harvard". Harry Wright asked me to go out with him and see the demonstration. A fellow named Fred Thayer, third baseman for Harvard, had made a big cage, much like a bird's cage, out of heavy iron wire. This the Harvard catcher, Jim Tyng, wore during the game. 'What do you think of it?' Harry asked me. Well I told him such a mask hindered a catcher's work but I believe one could be made which would prove satisfactory. "Make one the way you think it should be made" he ordered. So I went to an iron worker in Boston and had him make me a mask out of steel wire. It fit over my face only, with padding around it, and was held on with elastic bands. This I used in catching Spalding for two seasons after that, and it came in handy when I went up behind the plate to catch my brother in 1878. The offered mask exhibits evidence of heavy use including wear to the leather padding, which has been reinforced with period wire while retaining its original mohair interior fill. The mask has no head strapping present of any type and retains its original form with no breaks to the metalwork. While it is impossible to document how many masks White wore during his (15) year career, it is worth noting he did play other infield positions for the majority of the second half of his career. His partial time as a catcher coupled with the fact that masks of this type would not have been purchased in any sort of large quantities during the era points to the extreme rarity of the offered example. Very desirable and historic piece of antique baseball equipment with unimprovable provenance. Includes letter of provenance from the White family and the original news article interview with Deacon White regarding the mask: VG
Estimated Price: ($7,500.00-$10,000.00)
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