Historical Hockey Memorabilia Auction Winter 2019
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/26/2019
The only inducted member of both the College Football and Hockey Halls of Fame, Hobey Baker spent his pre-Princeton days with St Paul’s, and was named the school's best athlete for his skill in hockey, football, baseball, tennis, swimming, and track, while only 15. We have an original cabinet photo of the St Paul’s football team from circa-1908, with Baker pictured. At approx 10 ¼” x 17”, the full team is pictured with a number of individuals – possibly junior and senior members – with the gridiron in the background. Taken from an elevated vantage point, Baker is pictured in the front row, just to left of center. Taken by noted photographer Kimball, some of the player’s names have been written in fountain pen along the bottom of the mount.
There is a slight bow to the mount/photo, with the corners rounded with some material loss. The image itself exhibits some minor spotting/foxing, with a faint stain over the bottom left along with very light silvering. A pinhole centered along the top is also present, with the cabinet photo begging to be framed.
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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