{"id":85402,"date":"2025-01-17T07:13:49","date_gmt":"2025-01-17T12:13:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=85402"},"modified":"2025-01-17T07:13:49","modified_gmt":"2025-01-17T12:13:49","slug":"sothebys-to-auction-the-most-complete-jewish-baseball-card-collection-in-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/sothebys-to-auction-the-most-complete-jewish-baseball-card-collection-in-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Sotheby\u2019s to auction \u2018the most complete Jewish baseball card collection in the world\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By JACOB GURVIS<\/p>\n<p>(JTA) \u2014 For many Jewish fans who collect baseball cards, the joy of opening a new pack and finding a Jewish player is second to none. That was Seymour Stoll\u2019s experience years ago when he drew a Sandy Koufax card at 14 years old.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_85403\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Koufax-card.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-85403\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-85403 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Koufax-card-300x167.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"167\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Koufax-card-300x167.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Koufax-card-1024x569.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Koufax-card-768x427.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Koufax-card-1536x853.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Koufax-card-2048x1138.jpg 2048w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/167;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-85403\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-85403\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Koufax-card-300x167.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"167\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Koufax-card-300x167.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Koufax-card-1024x569.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Koufax-card-768x427.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Koufax-card-1536x853.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Koufax-card-2048x1138.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-85403\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Sandy Koufax rookie baseball card displayed by the Unclaimed Property Division of the Colorado State Treasurer at the State Capitol in Denver, Colorado, March 10, 2015. (Craig F. Walker \/ The Denver Post)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Inspired by that sense of pride, Stoll set out to collect the cards of every Jewish player in baseball history \u2014 around 200 total. More than 50 years later, his complete collection is going up for auction at Sotheby\u2019s on Jan. 25, with an estimated price of $500,000 to $700,000.<\/p>\n<p>Touted as \u201cthe most complete Jewish baseball card collection in the world,\u201d Stoll\u2019s archive features over 500 cards representing 191 Jewish players. It claims to contain at least one card for every Jewish player who has appeared in a professional game as of the 2024 season. (A similar but much smaller set of Jewish baseball cards was produced and sold throughout the 2000s.)<\/p>\n<p>The players most represented in the collection are Hall of Famers Koufax and Hank Greenberg. Other well-known Jewish stars such as Norm and Larry Sherry, Ron Blomberg and more contemporary players like Ian Kinsler and Ryan Braun are all featured. Lipman Pike, the first Jewish baseball star and one of the sport\u2019s first-ever professional players, is also represented.<\/p>\n<p>The most valuable card in the set is an 1867 tintype \u2014 an old-fashioned metallic print \u2014 of Philadelphia Athletics star Levi Meyerle,&nbsp;one of two Meyerle tintypes in existence. Stoll told Sports Collectors Digest that he bought the card for $750 around 30 years ago and later had it appraised at $250,000 to $300,000.<\/p>\n<p>Other standouts include a rare card of 1930s New York Giants star Philip Weintraub, a 1946 Cuban series card of Max Rosenfeld and a 1915 PM1 Ornate Frame Pin of Benny Kauff. There\u2019s also a fake card of former Cincinnati Reds player Harry Chozen \u2014 a card that Chozen\u2019s family created after the Reds refused to have one made because Chozen was Jewish.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis collection not only celebrates achievements but also sheds light on the challenges Jewish players faced on and off the field,\u201d reads the Sotheby\u2019s listing, which notes that Koufax and Greenberg both faced antisemitism during their careers.<\/p>\n<p>Stoll\u2019s collection has been on display at 11 major museums around the United States \u2014 including the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia and the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles \u2014 as well as synagogues, libraries and community centers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEverybody loves something whether you\u2019re young, you\u2019re old, and it gives you a sense of pride of what the baseball players did to integrate Jews into society,\u201d Stoll, now a physician in California, said in 2020. \u201cIn the old days, they would be blackballed and had to hide their Jewish heritage. Today, they\u2019re welcomed with open arms. It shows the evolution of the game, the evolution towards the feelings of Jewish players and the country in general.\u201d<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Sotheby%E2%80%99s%20to%20auction%20%E2%80%98the%20most%20complete%20Jewish%20baseball%20card%20collection%20in%20the%20world%E2%80%99\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":85403,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,1491],"tags":[2684,14326,8790,14325,8788],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85402"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85402"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85404,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85402\/revisions\/85404"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}