October 14th, a warm and sunny Saturday here in SW Ohio, the Green Diamond Gallery hosted an open house. For a minimal cover charge, the general public was welcome to tour the Montgomery baseball museum which normally requires a $2,400 annual membership to gain entry. This was a return engagement for Lou and me. Our first visit was recounted here in the digital pages of Heavy Artillery last year in On Days Like These; October 2016.
Herewith, a few items of note which did not appear in the previous recitation.
Among the two dozen Babe Ruth autographed memorabilia on exhibit [!!!], this Ruth-signed baseball stands out as the best example and is easily the best example I've been fortunate to observe firsthand.
It is possible, I'll allow, that I may have seen a comparable Ruth-signed ball when I visited the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown way back in the 1980s but I don't now recall that. It's safe to say that, outside of Cooperstown, you would be hard-pressed to encounter a more impressive example.
On the subject of being hard-pressed to find better examples are these stunning, early-period autographs of Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams which are elegant, highly-stylized and nothing like that which you'll find today up for auction on websites, in auction houses or for sale in your local sports memorabilia shop:
Good luck finding a Joe DiMaggio autograph with this much flourish on the Joe.
For an autograph that is all flourish and no discernible signature, check out this example:
Give up? That is the signature of a character named John T. Brush who, among other accomplishments, owned the Cincinnati Reds from 1891-1902.
There are a multitude of strikingly good signatures on display at the Green Diamond Gallery. Hall of Famer Johnny Mize was consistently good at making a crisp, attractive signature. In last year's blog post I shared a photo of Thomas Edison's beautiful signature. Former Reds second baseman (1952-59, 1964) has a great signature:
Very simple yet artistic! Minimalist, one might suggest.
The Green Diamond Gallery has on exhibit countless authentic, game-used memorabilia. Among the collection are a wide variety of tickets to historic games:
In the photo above, reflecting my white shorts and turquoise golf shirt, is a ticket to the Yankees game of July 4, 1939. On that date, in pregame ceremonies at old Yankee Stadium, Lou Gehrig gave his immortal "Luckiest Man" speech. Of course I could not have been there that day in 1939, but to think that I could be so close this artifact - this ticket - for that historic event brings me as close as is possible. Astounding.
Some of the memorabilia exhibited are so rare as to be virtually unknown to all but the most informed researcher:
Who knew that in 1918 Hall of Famer Honus Wagner owned an automobile garage? Was that sales? Service? Both? And in 1918?! That puts Hans at the vangaurd of the automobile revolution. Incredible. I particularly enjoy seeing this iteration of an old phone number; Bell Phone 197-R. Add to it the bold signature at the bottom and this piece, to steal a phrase from Hall of Fame broadcaster Marty Brennaman, has my eyes spinning like a dial telephone.
A baseball fan can - and does - spend uninterrupted hours investigating the Green Diamond Gallery's collection. After an hour or four of being dumbfounded by so much rare and exceptional memorabilia, one almost (but not quite) becomes blase toward some displays:
Autographed bats and baseballs by every individual member of the 500 Home Run Club? Ho-hum.
Photograph signed by DiMaggio, Mantle and Williams? Yawn.
OK, OK. It should be obvious here that I exaggerate. A baseball fan would never become so immune to items such as these on exhibit, as demonstrated by the mere fact that I photographed them, to dismiss their special nature. And one cannot feel anything other than gratitude for having the rare honor of experiencing this collection in person.
The Green Diamond Gallery continues acquiring memorabilia, including memorabilia from more modern and current players:
Jay Bruuuuuce and Kris Bryant.
Ryan Sandbag and Neon Deion Primetime $anders. How could you not love Deion? To this day, Deion Sanders remains one of the all-time favorite Cincinnati Reds of My Dear Elderly Mother.
The general public was granted a mere 4 hours to tour the Gallery on that October Saturday. Afterward, Lou and I walked the two blocks up Montgomery Road to have lunch at the fabled Montgomery Inn. We'd been looking forward to that all week!
But they were closed.
Evidently, the Montgomery Inn is open only for dinner on Saturdays.
We settled for another fine establishment, midway between the Green Diamond Gallery and the Montgomery Inn, called Stone Creek Dining Company. We were shown to a table with an expansive view of the intersection of Main St and Cooper Rd "in the heart of Old Montgomery," as the saying goes.
Immediately to the left of this serene scene, on the opposite corner, was an old two-story red structure. From our table, we could see (but not read) an historical marker affixed to the siding. After lunch, we took a stroll to educate ourselves as to why this venerable old building was historically significant.
This, we discovered, was the Yost Tavern. I didn't capture it from the best angle. The Yost Tavern was built in 1805. For perspective, Ohio achieved statehood in 1803. Around these parts, that qualifies it as being ancient. Nearly pre-historic.
Roll the credits!
