Atlanta Braves 2021 ring not the first Braves ring to set the standard

The 1914 Miracle Braves

The Boston granddaddy of today’s Atlanta Braves surprised everyone by going from 15-games back on July 4 to finishing 94-59-5, 10-1/2 games ahead of the Giants. They followed that by sweeping the best team in baseball, the reigning World Series Champion Athletics.

Everyone who kept track of such things assumed that Braves players received a pin; that all changed in 1999.

Sports memorabilia collector Barry Halper placed Rabbit Maranville’s World Series Ring up for auction at Southeby’s in November. Experts were quick to suggest that Maranville had ordered the ring himself and that it wasn’t an authentic World Series commemorative piece, but Halper had proof.

He had purchased the ring from Maranville’s nephew Thomas Stapleton many years earlier, and Stapleton had included a handwritten note certifying the ring as genuine.

The ring sold for $29,625.

Double-play combinations are forever.

Twelve years later, Johnny Evers’ nephew Donald Ghegan offered another 1914 World Series ring for auction with Robert Edwards Auctions. Ghegan also provided indisputable proof of the ring’s origins.

The ring is accompanied by a copy of the Last Will and Testament of Marion C. Evers, in which she specifically leaves the 1914 World Series ring to Donald Ghegan, Johnny Evers‘ nephew.

Johnny Evers’ ring matches the Maranville ring perfectly with a tiny difference.

The Maranville ring had a different less expensive stone that we are certain replaced the original diamond.

The rings are gold with the player’s name engraved inside, a stamp showing F.H. Coe as the creator, and the ring’s carat weight of 14K. Coe was well known to baseball, having created pins for teams before and after 1914.

The biggest unanswered question remaining is why have only two rings emerged? The best answer seems to be that it was a long time ago, and stuff gets lost.

Make a ring that looks like. . .

Today’s Atlanta Braves players have the money to have a unique piece of jewelry designed for them and the freedom to wear anything they want. However, Evers and Maranville weren’t rich men, and both liked a drink or two… or five. They were also men of their time.

It’s doubtful either player would have ordered a ring, not only because of the cost but also because it would be out of character for men at that time.

In that era, it wasn’t considered “manly” for a gentleman to wear a ring – even if that ring was earned as part of a World Championship.

Provenance

When a high-end auction house offers something collectible, they require proof of authenticity, and both rings have undisputed provenance.

the fact that (the) rings both originate directly from the estates of the players . . . clearly establishes that World Series rings were highly prized by at least two members of the 1914 Boston Braves team (and) We have never seen or heard of a 1914 Braves Championship pin award.

That’s a wrap

While the 1914 ring looks tiny compared to the mammoth hunk of gold given to the 2021 team, in many ways, I prefer it. A man with average-sized hands could wear the 1914 ring without people staring and pointing.

If I earned a ring for something few others have done, I’d want to wear it, not so people could stare at it in awe, but I could look at it and remember why it’s there.

It seems clear that the 1914 World Series ring shows that the franchise now known as the Atlanta Braves was the first to give players at least the option of a ring.