This is currently on Baseball Think Factory. I can’t resist this sort of item, as I grew up playing baseball board games, first mechanical ones like this, then strategy/statistics based games like APBA and Stratomatic. I think these games probably had a more direct link with my current enjoyment of baseball than anything else — moreso than actually playing baseball.

This was found in the servant’s quarters of an Independence, Missouri estate. It’s believed to be made in 1893 (making it 115 years old) and is in mint condition. It was sold at the Chicago World’s Fair.

Schrieber said the game was likely bought by the mansion’s patriarch, William Wagonner, for his then 6-year-old son.

There are believed to be only 10 copies of the game left in the world and has images of Cy Young and Buck Ewing.

You can click over and see a newsclip of the find here. One of the commenters on BBTF posted a link to the above photo and says it sold for $17,000 at an auction.

Whenever I hear of this kind baseball board game find I’m reminded of Jack Keroac’s homemade fantasy baseball game, a copy of which was found in 2001. If you’ve never read that story I urge you to. Keroac was an avid baseball fan and from the age of 12 made his own fantasy baseball games, which he continued to play until he died in 1969.