Ronald Gabriel Collection of Baseball Memorabilia
name: label: Creator
content: Gabriel, Ronald L., 1941-2009
label: Names
content: Brooklyn Dodgers (Baseball team)
label: Names
content: Ruth, Babe, 1895-1948
topic: label: Topic
content: Collectors and collecting
label: Topic
content: Collectibles
label: Topic
content: Baseball players
label: Topic
content: Baseball
label: Topic
content: Sports -- Collectibles
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Collection bequeathed to the National Museum of American History by Ronald Gabriel through Tom Cholis, October 15, 2008.
creator: label: Creator
content: Gabriel, Ronald L., 1941-2009
setName: label: See more items in
content: Ronald Gabriel Collection of Baseball Memorabilia
abstract: label: Summary
content: The collection consists of newslettersDodgers Line Drives, Brooklyn Dodgers Fan Club Newsletter, and Gabe-o-gram, albums of trading cards and Hall of Fame postcards, many of which have been autographed.  There are also photographs of teams, individual players, and a photograph of Ronald Gabriel with Babe Ruth.  There is a large scrapbook containing over 1000 autographs and several items of baseball ephemera, including placemats, magnets, scorecards, team schedules, programs, and posters.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Ronald Gabriel (1941-2009) grew up in Brooklyn, just two miles from Ebbets Field, home of the Dodgers.  He quickly became engrossed in the baseball atmosphere around his home and developed a passion for the sport that would shape his entire life.  He regularly wrote letters to baseball teams asking for player autographs.  As a result he compiled a massive collection of signatures, including those from Joe DiMaggio, Warren Spahn, Mickey Mantle, Leo Durocher, Bob Feller, and hundreds more.  He continued collecting baseball memorabilia for the rest of his life.  The Dodgers were his team.  He was born in 1941, just in time to watch the Dodgers become one of the greatest franchises in baseball history, winning pennants in 1941, 1947, 1949, 1952, and 1953.  Finally, after losing to the New York Yankees in their previous five World Series, Ronald Gabriel witnessed the Brooklyn Dodgers win the 1955 World Series.

Even after his team moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles in 1958 Gabriel remained passionately devoted to the Brooklyn Dodgers.  He published a newsletter called Dodgers Line Drives that lasted until 2009 and started the "Worldwide" Brooklyn Dodgers Fan Club in 1975 in honor of the twentieth anniversary of their World Series victory.  He was also a guest speaker at George Washington University for a class called Race, Sports, and the American Dream, where he talked about Jackie Robinson.  His baseball knowledge extended far beyond the Dodgers.  He became a widely known baseball historian, acted as vice-president of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), and established the Washington Metro Chapter of the SABR.  Later in his life Gabriel was honored by the Dodgers when they inducted him into the Brooklyn Dodgers Hall of Fame, an honor not usually given to fans.  Gabriel was an important part of the Dodger community.  He became close friends with a number of widows of former players and visited them often.  Ronald Gabriel died in July, 2009 at the age of 68.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 2 Cubic feet (7 boxes)
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1912-2009
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.1178
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Placemats
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Ephemera
label: Type
content: Packaging
label: Type
content: Newsletters
label: Type
content: Scrapbooks
label: Type
content: Baseball cards
label: Type
content: Tickets
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is organized into 3 series.

Series 1, Newsletters, 1944-2008 

Series 2, Photographs, circa 1947-2006 

Series 3, Baseball Ephemera, 1912-1990 

Subseries 1, Trading Cards, 1912-1973  (Bulk, 1940-1954) 

Subseries 2, Postcards, undated

Subseries 3, Scrapbook, undated 

Subseries 4, Posters, 1955-1982 

Subseries 5, Ephemera, undated
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Processed by Josiah Gould (intern), March, 2011; supervised by Vanessa Broussard, archivist.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Placemats
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs -- Black-and-white photoprints -- Silver gelatin -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Ephemera -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs -- Photoprints -- Silver gelatin -- 2000-2010
label: Genre/Form
content: Packaging
label: Genre/Form
content: Newsletters -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Newsletters -- 21st century
label: Genre/Form
content: Scrapbooks -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Ephemera -- 21st century
label: Genre/Form
content: Baseball cards
label: Genre/Form
content: Tickets
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The collection includes baseball memorabilia acquired over Ronald Gabriel's lifetime as a fan, especially of the Brooklyn Dodgers. 

Series 1, Newsletters, 1944-2008, includes newsletters for the Dodgers Line Drives which Gabriel published, as well as the Brooklyn Dodgers Fan Club, which he founded in 1975.  He also authored a newsletter called the Gabe-o-gram.The Brooklyn Bums was a newsletter to which Gabriel subscribed.  

Series 2, Photographs, circa 1947-2006, consists of one oversize photo of Babe Ruth, a folder containing collectible photographs, and five packs of team photographs of the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers.  Notably in this series is the photograph of Ronald Gabriel as a child standing with the "Great Bambino," Babe Ruth.  

Series 3, Baseball Ephemera, 1912-1990, contains five subseries: Subseries 1, Trading Cards; Subseries 2, Postcards; Subseries 3, Scrapbook; Subseries 4, Posters; and Subseries 5, Ephemera. There are two albums of baseball trading cards dating from 1912 to 1973 and two albums of autographed Hall of Fame postcards. The scrapbook contains 144 pages and over 1000 autographs acquired by Gabriel as a boy. There are oversize posters documenting Duke Snider Restaurant & Bar (autographed by Duke Snider), 1989 and "Catch Baseball Fever," undated. The ephemera includes game tickets, a letter from Dodgers' long timeradio broadcaster Vin Scully, advertising, product packaging, baseball placemats, programs, team schedules, programs, scorecards, magnets, and several other small items.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Materials in the Archives Center

Archives Center Sports Memorabilia Collection, circa 1970 to present, #796 

Ronald S. Korda Collection of Sports and Trading Cards, 1952-1996, AC0545 

Lebanon Valley Baseball League Collection, 1936-1963, AC0067 

Eleanor Linkous Washington, D.C. Sports Memorabilia Collection, 1925-1956, AC0774 

Lou Newman Collection of Baseball Memorabilia, 1895-1999, AC0696 

Sioux City Ghosts Collection, 1920s-1983, AC0634 

Stall and Dean Company Records, 1898-1998, AC0669