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Eddie Collins is one of the greatest players in big league history. A career .333 hitter with 3,315 hits and a .424 on-base percentage, Collins was a four-time World Series champion.

After his junior year at Columbia University in 1906, Collins played semi-pro ball under the name Eddie Sullivan. The Ivy Leaguer soon attracted the attention of Connie Mack of the Philadelphia Athletics who signed him to a contract. As Sullivan, Collins appeared in six games with the A’s that season.

Once his professional status was discovered, Collins was declared ineligible yet returned to New York to finish his degree. That summer Collins appeared in 14 games for the Mackmen. In 1908, Collins hit .273 playing second base, shortstop, and all three outfield positions. The following season in 1909 Collins settled in, playing 153 games mostly at second and hit .347.

In the collection is this letter written by Collins dated March 5, 1945. Addressed to a fan in Illinois, Collins outlines how he got his start in baseball. “…I expressed a desire to play baseball when I was finishing college; signed with the Philadelphia Athletics; and after a couple of years of utility work, bench warming, and mostly perseverance and confidence, I earned a regular job on a Major League team.”

Collins’ bold and flowing signature appears at the bottom.

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Eddie Collins first appeared in a big league game for Connie Mack’s Philadelphia Atheltics on September 17, 1906. The 19-year old’s initial taste of big league pitching came courtesy of Hall of Famer Ed Walsh.

Walsh was about to complete an outstanding campaign that saw him finish among the league-leaders in ERA, strikeouts, and pitchers WAR. His ten shutouts topped all major league pitchers.

In his big league plate debut, Collins came up against Walsh, the man who claims baseball’s lowest career ERA. Eddie bunted his way aboard to record the first of his 3,315 big league hits.

In the collection is a 3×5 index card signed by Hall of Fame pitcher Ed Walsh.

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Eddie Collins and Harry Hooper were teammates with the White Sox from 1921 through 1925. When Hooper was asked to identify his all-time team, he remembered Collins fondly and selected him as the second basemen.

The choice is a wise one. Collins has the second-highest WAR among men at his position, trailing only the great Rogers Hornsby. Hooper’s choice highlights Collins .333 career average, .424 on-base percentage an his 3,315 career hits, most among second basemen.

Hooper favored guys he played with for his choices. Though he chose Hall of Fame pitcher Walter Johnson and Cooperstown first baseman George Sisler, most of his other selections were teammates. In addition to Collins, Hooper has Tris Speaker in center, Duffy Lewis in left, Dutch Leonard as the lefty pitcher, and Bill Carrigan at both catcher and manager.

This image shows Hooper’s response to just two of eight questions he answered. The other replies were about how Hooper wants to be remembered, what it means to be in the Hall of Fame, and thoughts about the Black Sox scandal. Those answers can be read by clicking on this link to Hooper’s page.

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The Golden Era of baseball is the game from our youth. According to his SABR biography, when Jocko Conlan was 13, he spent the summer at White Sox Park – later named Comiskey Park – at the team’s morning practices shagging balls for the team.

During that time he attended many of the team’s games and saw the players of the era including Eddie Collins. Conlan later played two seasons for the White Sox before embarking on a Hall of Fame career as an umpire.

When asked to pen his all-time White Sox team, Conlan chose Collins as his second baseman. Collins held down the keystone position for Chicago for a dozen years, hitting .331 with 2,007 hits for the Sox.

Shown here are the umpire’s selections. In addition to Collins, they include two other members of the Hall of Fame, pitcher Ted Lyons and shortstop Luke Appling. In the outfield, Conlan chooses Shoeless Joe Jackson among others.

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As owner of the Washington Senators, Clark Griffith fielded many offers for trades. In this letter of November 29, 1926 Griffith writes to fellow Hall of Famer Eddie Collins expressing his sorrow that Collins was deposed as manager of the White Sox.

With Collins as their second baseman and manager Chicago finished the 1926 campaign with a 81-72 record. The White Sox fired Collins at the end of the season to complete his time as Sox skipper with an overall record of 174-160.

Griffith continues his letter asking Collins’ opinion of a possible trade of the Senators’ Roger Peckinpaugh for Chicago White Sox pitcher James Edwards. Collins certainly had insight, having managed Edwards for the last two seasons.

Collins replies at the bottom of the letter saying among other things that Edwards, “won’t win 50% of his games”. Collins signs his initials “ETC” at the bottom of the note.

Griffith and the Senators did end up trading the 1925 MVP Peckinpaugh to the Sox two months after this letter was written. Instead of getting Edwards, Washington and Chicago agreed on a swap for Leo Magnum and Sloppy Thurston.

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The signature of Eddie Collins is relatively available due to his role as Boston executive from 1933-1946, however documents such as this one with relevance to a historically significant player rarely surface.

Dated January 28, 1936, this agreement assigns 24-year old Babe Dahlgren Jersey City team in Boston’s minor league system. The Yankees would eventually purchase Dahlgren from New York before the 1937 season and groom his as the eventual replacement for Lou Gehrig.

Collins remains the only player in baseball history to amass 3,300 hits in under 10,000 at-bats. His autograph is much sought after by collectors as he is a member of the 3,000 hit club and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1939.

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A three-year Major Leaguer in his own right, Eddie Collins Jr. played 132 games, mostly as an outfielder. In the collection is a handwritten letter from the younger Collins remember his father, the Hall of Fame player.

“I remember him mostly as a very fine and loving father rather than a ballplayer,” writes Jr. Indeed, by the time he was born his father had been retired for almost a decade.

The memory of his father might shed light into what made Collins Sr. a great player. “He was enthusiastic about a great many things, loved playing any kind of game, was very competitive, fair, and a fine sportsman.”

Eddie Collins Jr. died November 2, 2000.