Take Me Out to the Museum
A remarkable baseball card collection steps up to the plate at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
My great-grandfather, Cornelius "Con" Daily, was a professional baseball player for more than a decade toward the end of the 19th century, catching for the Boston Beaneaters (now the Atlanta Braves), Brooklyn Bridegrooms (now the Los Angeles Dodger) and several other clubs. The Chicago Colts (now the Cubs) was his last.
He was quite the player and was especially loved — on and off the field — in Brooklyn, where he spent most of his career. As a professional, he hit two home runs, one of them off the Hall of Fame pitcher Cy Young.
Encounters with Cy Young
I've come across other interesting tidbits about his playing career from baseball encyclopedias and the many baseball books in bookstores and libraries. For instance, I read that a controversial play in an 1896 game between Chicago and Cleveland nearly devolved into a riot before my great-grandfather and Young were chosen to umpire the rest of the game, which Chicago won 8-3.
"The bulk of the collection — the cards that are not on view — are kept in a temperature-controlled storeroom."
More recently, Con has been chosen for a less dangerous, more glamorous job at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. His baseball card and those of thousands of other players, are in a temperature-controlled backroom in the museum.
The Met is home base to an extraordinary archive of 30,000 baseball cards — the largest collection of such mementos outside the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. So, while most of the 5.5 million annual visitors to the Met come to see mummies and Matisse, others come for a baseball experience.
Jefferson R. Burdick, an electrician from Syracuse, New York, generously donated his impressive collection to the Met in the 1940s and '50s. He was so devoted to his card collection that he even spent time behind a desk in a small back-room office at the museum, meticulously cataloging the cards to illustrate the history of baseball — and of printmaking in the U.S.
While companies today sell baseball cards as a product in themselves, tobacco companies in the late 1800s gave cards away as advertising inserts. They, too, are part of Burdick's treasure.
His collection includes one of the much-celebrated T-206 Honus Wagner cards issued by the American Tobacco Company from 1909 to 1911. Fewer than 200 were distributed before Wagner withdrew his permission, saying he didn't want to encourage young card collectors to use.
"This is a unique opportunity to see the Wagner card, which is rarely exhibited because of efforts to preserve it," says Allison Rudnick, associate curator of drawings and prints at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Rarities in the Met Collection
The collection also features cards of many Hall of Famers, including Ty Cobb, Joe DiMaggio, Lou Gehrig, Hank Greenberg, Willie Mays and Babe Ruth. Burdick's albums also contain complete sets such as the famous Bowman Gum series of 1951, which includes Mickey Mantle's rookie card, and Topps's 1953 set highlighting New York Yankees Philip Rizzuto, Yogi Berra, Mantle and Brooklyn Dodgers Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Pee Wee Reese and Roy Campanella.
"The Met has organized installations of highlights of the baseball card collection consistently since the early 1990's," says Rudnick. "Currently, the installations are up for approximately six months. They are rotated in and out to be exhibited. That way, visitors can see a different selection of cards every six months, and we are able to protect the cards from the damaging effects of light exposure."
The location of the installations has changed a few times over the last 30-plus years, says Rudnick. But they've always been shown in the American Wing.
"The bulk of the collection — the cards that are not on view — are kept in a temperature-controlled storeroom," she says.
The current installation, "Baseball Cards from the Collection of Jefferson R. Burdick," features 60-plus cards dating from 1887 to 1955, illustrating the history of the game from the "dead-ball era" in the early 20th century through the golden age of the 1930s through '50s and into the modern era.
The cards depict studs like Honus Wagner (it is not always exhibited) as well as lesser-known players, owners and teams. The current exhibit will run through January 21, 2025, says Rudnick. The next one will open two days later.
A Tombstone and a Baseball Card
Of course, I'll keep visiting the museum to see if my great-grandfather's card ever makes it into the exhibit rotation. And I'll also continue to visit him at his gravesite in Middle Village Queens, New York — the new World Trade Center is visible just miles away. Con was born on 9/11.
I once bought a replica of one of his baseball cards online and tucked it right next to his tombstone. I've also left a baseball there.
This year baseball is looking especially good for New York and the playoff season. And because baseball players are always connected to the game, especially those Brooklyn boys, I'm guessing Con will be sitting in the ultimate nosebleed section in the sky with his teammates and other players whose cards are also at The Met, cheering the teams on.
