James Elster was considered “Mr. Baseball”in the Grand Rapids, MI, area during the early 1900s.  

Elster came to Grand Rapids in 1904, and was a catcher for the local semi-pro baseball team in Grand Rapids in 1905.  In 1906,, he took over his team, the Colored Athletics, which started in the late 1800s.  He coached for 46 years, ending his career in 1952.  

Elster’s Colored Athletics would play any team in Western Michigan and 100 years ago, the date of this poster, the Athletics were considered one of the top semi-pro teams in the Midwest.  Because the Athletics never had a lot of financing, many other teams raided his roster of his better players.

The Athletics’ home games were played at Ramona Park in Grand Rapids.

This original poster from 1923 advertises one of the many pickup games the team played against local teams.  The poster advertises a game between the Colored Athletics and Perrys Stores, and I’m fairly sure that the Athletics won.

The game was held at Bigelow Field, Wyoming, MI (near Grand Rapids_. What surprised me the most was that the game was played under the lights.

This poster, for being a hundred years old, is in pretty good shape.  There are a few vertical creases where someone once folded the poster.  Underneath the word “KIDS” is the All Sports Poster logo in white. The colors are in great shape.

It’s made out of lighter cardboard and measures slightly over 17 inches long by 11 inches deep.  At the bottom is the copyright date of 1923

I have stored the poster in a heavy duty, acid-free, polypropylene sleeve to continue to protect it.  I will ship it that way as well.

I would bet that this poster is one-of-a-kind and guaranteed to be authentic.