The First Great Jewish Baseball Player
Many people are familiar with Sandy Koufax or Hank Greenberg. Maybe you even know that Steve Stone won a Cy Young award or that Ron Bloomberg was the first DH in Major League Baseball History. However, it was Lipman Pike who was professional baseball's first great Jewish Superstar.
Pike was born in New York in 1845. Starting in 1871, Pike played his entire career split between the National Association and The National League. A well rounded hitter, Pike led the National Association in home runs for three years. He also finished with a lifetime batting average of .322 over ten seasons in professional ball. A quality player indeed.
Earlier this summer, Lelands auction house had a rare "Lip" Pike picture or CDV available at auction. Anything connected to Pike is highly sought after due to pure scarcity of items. Here is the description from the Lelands listing:
"Original carte de visite (CDV) capturing outfielder Lipman Pike, the first home run champion of the National Association. Produced by the famed Bachrach photography studio of Baltimore. We have never seen another example of this CDV of Pike, a player for whom very few original portrait photos exist, and it may be unique. Lipman Pike was a member of the Baltimore Canaries of the National Association in both 1872 and 1873 and given that the CDV was produced by the Bachrach studio, it is reasonable to assume that it dates from that two-year time period. This CDV image was also used to create the woodcut illustration of Pike that was part of a Baltimore Canaries team composite featured in the May 5, 1873, issue of the Daily Graphic, a New York City newspaper."
Graded SGC "Authentic" the picture finished with a winning bid of just over 131K! There is a strong community of collectors in every niche. No different, there are collectors of Jewish baseball players. Adding a Lip Pike to that type of personal collection is a rare opportunity.
Just remember the next time someone asks about the great Jewish Players in history that Lipman Pike should be included!
Danny Black serves as the Editor of Collectibles on SI. Founder of Hobby News Daily, Danny also serves as a consultant to companies in The Hobby. A former employee of the Braves and Orioles, Danny is a Maryland resident with his wife and 3 children.
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