Honor for pitcher thrown a curve

Few know that the Negro League pitcher traveled around New England for more than three decades in the early to mid-1900s, dazzling spectators at ballparks from Dorchester to Cambridge to Salem with his fastball.

Or that his greatest accomplishment was striking out Boston Braves All-Star outfielder Wally Berger four times in one game in Dover, N.H.

Now, an effort to restore the late pitcher to his rightful place in baseball history is being stymied by a battle over a collection of memorabilia that once belonged to Jackman, including 300 box scores, a cartoonist’s sketch, and an autographed picture of Jackman with former Boston mayor Kevin White.

Mike Ginns of Arlington began seeking the papers - the only known collection focused on Jackman - soon after he established the Cannonball Foundation in June, to chronicle the life of Jackman and other Negro League players and teams from New England.

Through various online sports sites, he learned that sports writer Dick Thompson of Dartmouth had borrowed a large collection on Jackman about four years ago from the Chick family of Dedham, which had hired Jackman in his later years as the family’s chauffeur.

Thompson died last year and never returned the collection. His wife, unaware of the loan, then consigned the collection to Hall’s Nostalgia, an auction house in Arlington.

In January, Hall’s sold the collection for $300 to an unidentified Virginia man. That man, in turn, consigned the items to Huggins & Scott Auctions in Silver Springs, Md., which is selling them.

Ginns contacted Huggins earlier this year, notifying him that the papers in Thompson’s collection were borrowed from the Chicks. But Bill Huggins, the president of the auction house, said unless a judge intervenes the sale will continue through month’s end. It began Sept. 13.

“I can’t go on someone else’s orders other than the guy who has the documentation that says he owns them,’’ said Huggins in a phone interview. “And right now my consigner is saying - sell them.’’

Peter Chick, who loaned Thompson the items, told the Globe he is giving Ginns control of the loaned documents.

“What you have here,’’ Chick said, “is that the Chick family wants to donate this [the collection] to the charity, and the auction house wants to sell something it does not own.’’

But Chick has not intervened to stop the sale. And without a legal claim to the collection, Ginns is frantically trying to buy it.

He has placed a bid for $425. As of yesterday , there were 10 bids, with a high of $600.

Born in 1897, Jackman played for the Philadelphia Colored Giants, a barnstorming team that traveled across the Northeast.

The team, which took on different names including the Boston Colored Giants, played 90 to 100 games a season.

Jackman, who had lived in the South End, told the Boston Herald at one time that he played with no fear. “I beat every man I pitched against at least once.’’

Aficionados often compared him with Leroy “Satchel’’ Paige, the right-hander whose pitching in the Negro League and major league made him a legend.

Jackman belatedly received some recognition - when he was well into his 70s. In 1971, friends honored him with a day at the newly renovated Carter Field in the South End, and the Red Sox gave him a lifetime pass to Fenway Park. A year later, Jackman died at age 74.

With little documented about him, those researching Jackman’s life hope to shed light on how his team crossed paths with such stars as Paige and other major league players.

Richard Johnson, the curator of the Sports Museum at TD Garden, said although the bulk of the Jackman trove doesn’t have much value, it is a boon to researchers trying to fill the gaps of the pitcher’s life.

“It’s not like the collection includes a glove . . . or a jersey,’’ said Johnson, who has not seen the collection. “It basically seemed like material that had spiritual and historical value.’’

Three weeks ago, Ginns - in hot pursuit of the Jackman collection - contacted Chick, whose grandfather had hired Jackman. Chick, who grew up in Dedham, recalled the ballplayer as a towering figure with massive hands.

Scrolling through the online auction recently, Chick said he recognized some of the images in the collection as those belonging to his family.

“That’s my mother’s chaise - and her lamp,’’ Chick said of one photograph. “This is our house, so no one can say these documents aren’t mine.’’

Chick told the Globe he loaned Thompson a “bureau full of stuff’’ on Jackman in 2005, because it is his family’s wish to see Jackman’s legacy remembered and his name entered into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

But he lost touch with Thompson as well as the papers until Ginns called to notify him they had been sold.

For now, Ginns is considering his options.

“My strategy,’’ he said recently, “is to be the highest bidder.’’

Meghan E. Irons can be reached at mirons@globe.com.

Correction: Because of incorrect information provided to the Globe, a boy was incorrectly identified in a photograph and story in Sunday’s Metro section about William “Cannonball’’ Jackman, a Negro League pitcher whose artifacts are now being auctioned. The boy is Stephen Chick at age 2.