Our hobby knew him as the foremost collector and expert in the field of sliding photos—whose painstaking research for over 50 years broke new ground in player identification, thus transforming anonymous scenes into vivid tableaus of baseball history.

Indeed, there was little overlap in the two worlds of the one-and-only George Michael. His 2009 New York Times obituary makes no mention whatsoever of Michael's lifelong photo-collecting passion, focusing instead on his legacy as a "a hard-working reporter…a large personality, a bravado interviewer and an irreverent commentator." Meanwhile, upon word of his passing, the hobby chatboard forums saw a flurry of memorial tributes, with one colleague recalling, "George was full of life and was collecting right up to the last minute…I will miss George for his kindness, business guidance, wisdom and friendship…The only thing he loved more than his sliding photos was his wife Pat."

Born on March 24, 1939, George Michael inherited his fascination with the national pastime not from the typical source of his father, but rather from his slide-obsessed mother. In a 1999 SABR article, Michael described his origin story and his mission:

One Sunday morning in September of 1947 I was awoken by my Mom in order to show me a great picture in the St. Louis Globe…from the previous day’s game of the Cardinals' Marty Marion sliding into home with the ball bouncing to Dodger catcher Bruce Edwards…I know I was clipping pictures from the paper before I ever started school. For the following fifteen years or so I cut out every sliding picture from the newspapers and put them in carefully protected scrapbooks…The photos I saved had to be clear pictures of a player sliding into second, third or home. The positions of the players and the quality of the actual photo would determine if it was good enough to be saved. Collisions, rough double plays, post homerun photos, posed shots—these were never acceptable. It had to be a clean photo of a player sliding…My Mom died when I was young and my father discarded all the scrapbooks as junk. I decided in 1968 that I would try to find every picture that I had clipped as a kid.

Pursuing his quest to the ends of the Earth, George henceforth spent countless hours scouring the newspapers, books, microfilms and digital records of the Hall of Fame, AP-Wide World, Bettman Archives, the Library of Congress and "every known source of photo archives." He was an exacting perfectionist, a die-hard completist, to the very core. Even figuring out the teams, the year, the players and the stadium was insufficient—George was determined to pinpoint the date of every single photo he ever collected. Excerpted from the same SABR article, here is just one striking example of his scientific precision and fanatical perseverance:

The most difficult pictures are the ones with no date, no names and no easily identifiable faces. I knew that the photo below featured the Braves and I can tell from other photos it was from the Milwaukee era. By the position of the runner wearing #2 I know it's Red Schoendienst of the Cardinals. The Braves went to Milwaukee in 1953 and Red left the Cardinals during the season of 1956, so the photo is from 1953 through mid-season 1956. Based on the build of the umpire I figured it was probably Dusty Boggess or Bill Jackowski…I looked at the base paths and, with so few spike marks on the infield, knew it had to be in the first inning…I went to all the box scores with the Braves and Cardinals for day games from 1953 to 1956 in which Red Schoendienst stole a base…One of those [three] dates is April 15, 1954…The other notable feature about the picture is the outfield grass. I can still see football lines on the grass, and it appears that the grass had recently been mowed while it was wet. That indicates the date of the photo was April or September, because the Packers played at County Stadium and the yard-lines were still on the field in the spring and in the fall. I called Milwaukee County Stadium and got an old groundskeeper who remembered the Opening Day of '54 when the grass was wet and had to be mowed because it was so tall, and the yardlines from Packers football were still visible on the field. With this information I went to the Library of Congress where the story of the game for April 15, 1954, told me it was a dreary overcast day. In the first inning, Schoendienst stole 2nd and later scored. The umpire was Bill Jackowski. This one picture took a couple of days of research…but I now know the story behind the picture…Identifying each of these photos is like discovering a hidden treasure.

George's mind was a well-oiled machine. He knew everything there was to know about sliding. He could tell you that legend had it Eddie Cuthbert of the Philadelphia Keystone Club made the first recorded slide in 1865, but that none other than Connie Mack believed instead it was "a player named Studley of Washington, in the late 1860s." Michael could further enlighten you that today’s historians have found references to "falling upon" the base as early as 1857 (New York Clipper newspaper), along with a first terminological reference to "sliding in" in 1860 (New York Sunday Mercury). And while talking about the slide boom of the 1880s, he just might well break into song with the 1889 Vaudeville tune, "Slide, Kelly, Slide." Then he'd segue to the tale of Charles Conlon's "Cobb Sliding" masterpiece. Next he'd regale you with the fact that "Stan Musial was far and away the most photogenic slider ever to play ball…[with] a full extension style that produced the perfect slide and thus the perfect picture." Or that Jackie Robinson "often slid on his side or on one knee, ready to advance to the next base." (Incidentally, George was forever on the hunt to complete the only known full set of original photos from the 19 times Robinson stole home—and he very nearly succeeded before losing his 2-year battle with cancer.) But lest you believe our sliding super-specialist to have had a completely one-track mind, it bears noting that the George Michael Collection also showcases a sophisticated selection of non-sliding photos headlined by Cobb, Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth, including several "Luckiest Man" classics and Nat Fein's "Babe Bows Out."

George Michael's boundless enthusiasm for photos was infectious for those who had the good fortune to share time with him, and it is our sincere hope that this auction catalog serves not only to convey the rich depth and breadth of his life’s work, but also to do justice to the looming greatness of George himself—the man, the myth, the legend, The Machine. AND NOW, WITHOUT FURTHER ADO AND IN THE WORDS OF THE LATE, GREAT GEORGE MICHAEL..."LET'S GO TO THE VIDEOTAPE"! 

Notes on the George Michael Collection 

Anyone who has invested time in the hobby as more than a passing observer knew the passion and tenacity of George Michael. The biography presented above tells the story of why George was so driven by sliding photos but it only tells part of the story. The other part was revealed to us when we had the honor to meet with George's wife Pat and others who were close to him. Undoubtedly George acquired numerous original news service photo collections when they included either regular season or postseason sliding action. Those photos are offered on the pages of this catalog.

What many don't know is that in order to feed this passion he was continually in search of news service photos that appeared on the pages of newspapers that never emerged from tightly sealed archives and therefore never became available to the public. In George's mind this left a hole in his collection, a collection that could never be completed! In Pat's words he "re-created history." In order to do this he worked tirelessly with consultants, libraries and photo services to acquire digital images that he could crop, print and stamp. In addition he researched their origin and created paper captions so his collection would be more complete. Many of these would be replaced when an original news service photo would become available. These "re-creations" were relatively easy to spot as they were printed on modern paper and did not have the typical crazing and flaws one would see with 50-plus-year-old photos. Thus, the re-creations were segregated from the collection. At one point we thought of offering them separately but were concerned that it would take away from the purity of the offering.

All of the photos being offered as part of the George Michael Collection are identified with hologram provenance labels on the reverse, and they are guaranteed to be original news service or wire photos printed at the time of the depicted action. We will offer a full 100% refund on any offered photo if it is determined that it is not from the period and is returned within 30 days of the sale.

Prospective bidders should also consider a few other general notes about the collection: 

Condition - The photos emanate from working news archives, and thus concede routine physical imperfections that can include production faults, crop marks, background masking, editorial notes, paste-up residue, creasing, crazing and edge chipping. These details are typically apparent in the auction catalog's presentation photographs (which show front and back views). Advanced collectors, in particular, will be able to analyze and appreciate these nuances which, in many instances, afford insight into the means or the timing of the images' past use.

Though the catalog is printed in black and white, and the vast majority of the photos were originally created in black and white, you can see every photo of every lot in color at legendaryauctions.com. It is important to note as well that the archive's sheer volume required the usage of high-speed scanning equipment that casts a "grayscale" effect upon the catalog/web images. Rest assured that both the front and reverse sides will be somewhat richer in tone and contrast when viewing these photos first-hand. This will enable collectors to appreciate the tonal variations which characterize vintage photographs.

Date Attribution - Our assumption is that prints were struck within a relatively short period of time concurrent to their use or publication. Generally, an effort has been made to provide specific dating for each photo on the basis of image details, news-service stampings and intact paper captions.

As always, bidders are invited to call our office during the auction for additional information about the photos in the sale.