[BASEBALL - NEGRO LEAGUE]

A group of signed documents and rare photographs, some relating to the Negro League player Percy Wilson. Comprising:

1) Percy Wilson's signed contract to play for the Baltimore Black Sox. A partially printed document accomplished in pencil and pen dated 4 November 1923 being the contract between "The Baltimore Black Sox Base Ball and Exhibition Club" and Percy L. Wilson of New Orleans, ("hereafter called the player"), hiring him at $165 for the 1924 season, the document signed at foot in ink "Percy L. Wilson" and with his New Orleans address, also signed by President George Rositer and Manager Pete Hill, on the side of the document in pencil is written an amendment to the contract "Transportation New Orleans to Baltimore." With the embossed seal of the team. The sheet 16 x 8 inches. Stains, splits to folds.

2) Percy Wilson's signed contract to play in the Dixie League in 1933. A partially printed document accomplished in pen dated April 1st, 1933, the contract signed in ink by Percy Wilson and the President of the league Sam Calderone. The sheet about 16 x 8 inches, folds and light handling wear. The Dixie League was a Class C league with teams reaching from Louisiana to Texas to Arkansas. While most online stats and biography only account for his 1923/24 seasons, this document shows he was still playing at least a decade later.

3) An unsigned baseball contract for George Wilson with the Crescent Stars Amusement Company dated 1922. [New Orleans:] 11 January 1922. The player has not signed this document but the President has. This contract is believed to be for the Negro Southern League team the New Orleans Cresent Stars which apparently renamed the team known as the New Orleans Caulfield Ads for the second half of the 1922 season. Similarly sized to the above, some wear and losses.

4) A rare photograph depicting the Negro Southern League New Orleans Caulfield Ads, circa 1920. A vintage 8 x 10 inch photograph depicting 14 members of the team in uniform in full length before a building. Losses and stains, mounted to a card board. The unusual name of this team derives from its local backer Fred Caulfield, and the team was often referred to in newspapers as the Caulfield Ads.

5) A rare photograph depicting a Negro League team believed to be the Illinois Central Railroad Employees. The image shows 13 players in uniform (reading Employees / IC RR) and two managers. 7 x 8 inches. With substantial losses and wear, mounted to card board. We do not easily trace this team.

6) And a very rare group of baseball photographs showing African American players and related clippings. A worn group of 8 photographs (each about 5 x 3 inches) and 3 newspaper clippings affixed to both sides of a thick sheet. Worn with creases, stains and losses. This remarkable group shows five baseball action shots, possibly staged, including a portrait of a standing catcher; two of the images show African American men in football uniforms. One of the clippings mentions Percy Wilson by name while he was on the Black Sox so presumably 1924, and in another clipping a player named Wilson is listed in the box score as playing 1st base for the New Orleans Black Pelicans - in the game he had 3 at bats, 1 hit, and scored a run.

A scarcely encountered group of signed items and photographs.