Douglas Tilden (1860-1935), known for his magnificent public works, sculpted THE BASEBALL PLAYER while in Paris in 1889. The life-sized statue was dedicated in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, on July 8, 1891. It stands there today as one of America's oldest stationary baseball artifacts. This item is a first-generation original bronze statue, cast directly from Tilden's recently-discovered 1889 Plaster Model. While the enclosed literature indicates that this was intended to be part of a limited-edition run of 89, there were in fact only a handful done due to high production costs. The 21" high bronze weighing 27 pounds comes with documentation of its registration with Art Founders Guild of America, Inc., NYC, with a copyright date of November 4, 1988 and a casting date of November 1, 1993, listed as casting #14 of the expected edition of 89. A rare chance to own a special reproduction of one of the great pieces of American baseball art.