Autographs
Hunt Auctions celebrates America’s 250th birthday with collection of historic baseballs signed by U.S. Presidents
When President William Howard Taft threw out the ceremonial first pitch prior to the Washington Senators’ Opening Day game on April 14, 1910, it established a precedent that has become a popular baseball tradition.
“The game of baseball is a clean, straight game, and it summons to its presence everybody who enjoys clean, straight athletics. It furnishes amusement to the thousands and thousands,” Taft famously said after his historic toss.
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For baseball fans and collectors, an even greater tradition is acquiring baseballs signed by U.S. Presidents.
To help celebrate the nation’s 250th birth and the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Hunt Auctions has assembled a complete run of baseballs autographed by U.S. Presidents from 1901-2026. The Commander in Chief Master Set of Presidential Autographed Baseballs features a complete run of 21 historic baseballs signed by presidents from Teddy Roosevelt to Donald Trump.
The collection will be up for bid in the 22nd annual MLB All-Star Live Auction by Hunt Auctions at the Capital One All-Star Village in Philadelphia.
Several baseballs in the collection are unique, including ceremonial first pitches and scarcities that number three or less surviving exemplars.
According to Hunt Auctions, “the combination of scarcity, importance and quality demonstrated within this assemblage of historic baseballs is unprecedented and without equal as the only continuous link of Presidential baseballs of its kind in private hands.”
According to Hunt, the collection surpasses even the personal collection of presidential baseballs from legendary Washington Senators pitcher Walter Johnson, which has been displayed at the Baseball Hall of Fame.
“The labor of love and appreciation for the history of baseball, along with its relationship with the Presidency that embodied this collector’s pursuit of these treasures is as impressive as the objects within,” Hunt Auctions President David Hunt said. “There could be no better venue to present this unique collection to the public than the greatest showcase of the game’s finest players on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the country—in the city where America’s Declaration of Independence was instituted.”
The entire collection of 21 Presidential signed baseballs will be sold as one lot. The estimated price is available upon request and is expected to attract bids of six to seven figures, according to Hunt.
