Historical Hockey Memorabilia Auction Winter 2019
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/26/2019
First sent along with his older brother to St Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire at age 11, Hobey Baker would be introduced to hockey while attending SPS, starring for the varsity team beginning at age 14. We have a scarce original panorama cabinet photo of the SPS hockey team (5" x 10"), most likely originating from one of Baker’s final seasons with the school, in 1908-09 or 1909-10. Taken by noted New England lensman Kimball, the diminutive 4 ¼” x 9” photo pictures the full squad with Baker including the spare and rover, with the photographer listed on the bottom left, along with “Concord, N.H.” over the bottom right. Any and all original photos featuring Baker are desperately sought, especially examples celebrating his hockey prowess.
The photo does suffer from some issues, with a large tear that runs through the photo over the lower left, with the mount cracked, but still attached. There is also a second vertical tear that runs the length of the image from top to bottom, with this situated to the right of the middle section. There is also corner wear to the mount as well as pinholes, with a few faint pencil notations over the front including “1910”, with a few of the player’s names written over the reverse in fountain pen.
Earning almost mythical status and heavily collected despite the intervening century since his passing, Hobart Amory Hare Baker was born in Pennsylvania just before the close of the Victorian era, in 1892. Hailing from a prominent Philadelphia family and the epitome of an attractive blond-haired All-American, Hobey excelled at sport while attending St. Paul's School in Concord, later starring on both the ice rink and gridiron for Princeton. Three successful years would be spent in the Ivy League, with his most notable accomplishments never fumbling a punt for the Tigers, and never losing to Yale. Baker would then add heroics to his growing legend, receiving the Croix de Guerre from the French government for his service as a fighter pilot during the Great War, later losing his life in December of 1918 during a test flight. Widely recognized by contemporaries as one of the greatest natural athletes, Baker would be one of the first nine players inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame upon its founding in 1945, and the only American.
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