Opinions on Jackie Robinson Signed Ball

[MooseDog]

Hi All -

Really glad to have found this board. I'm an autograph collector who dates back to the early 1970s through mid 1980s era mostly. I remember having a great time as a teen and young adult corresponding and trading with people like Dick Dobbins, Dan Forman (sp?), Bill Corcoran, Bill Zekus, Dr. John R Davis and many more. Dr. Davis in particular was really generous, we'd make a trade but he'd often include several more items on his end...just because.

Since about 1992 I've been pretty inactive but thanks to the Internet and boards like this it's great to be able to read about other's collecting experiences. Like every one else I could do without the drama but it comes with the territory and the (mostly) intelligent discussion makes for good reading.

I'm at the point where I may have to start selling off some of my collection and as I go though stuff that has been in closets for years, I have to come to the realization that many items, even some of my "best stuff" may not actually be "good". So if you all don't mind I'll be posting stuff from time to time and appreciate your learned opinions. There are a lot of sharp, experienced eyes on this board.

Please look at the Jackie Robinson signature on this ball and feel free to render an opinions as to whether it is JR's autograph or not.

[old13man]

It doesnt look right to me. Ironic that all the other signatures are in the same ink and this one is different...like it was added on.


CJ

[RichardSimon]

Unfortunately that is one really bad Jackie.
The Roush looks fine.

[mr2686]

As Richard said the Roush looks good. Too bad it's not alone on that panel so that it could be displayed as a single.

[jgmp123]

The "R" in that JR looks terrible...I would agree that is a bad signature.

[JimStinson]

Is Bill Corcoran still around ? He must be 95 years old by now. Bill Zekus was my mentor sadly he died around 2001. The Jackie is not even close sorry.
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[JimStinson]

In fact all of the other signatures look good so I will go out on a limb here and say the JR signature is signed by Rachel Robinson in an attempt to oblige a collector

[MooseDog]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I doubted that was a legit Jackie autograph and have always been bothered by it being the only signature in that pen. Very interesting idea on Rachel Robinson, Jim, I hadn't thought of that, I don't have any exemplars of her writing.

So here's the rest of the story. I got the ball from a former MLB player, along with several other AL 1961-62 team balls. He said that he collected them himself. This particular ball is ostensibly from the Yankees Old-Timers game held July 29, 1961. They player was on the White Sox in 1961 and they were in NY July 25-27 then on to Boston. So it's not likely that he got this ball signed himself unless all of these old-timers were in town during that period. Unfortunately he's passed away now, and I was remiss in seeking out all the details.

Here's the rest of the ball. I think most of you will agree the other sigs are fine.

[MooseDog]

Is Bill Corcoran still around ? He must be 95 years old by now. Bill Zekus was my mentor sadly he died around 2001. The Jackie is not even close sorry.


I think I last saw Bill out here about 3 years ago at a Tri-Star Show in SF. I think he's around my age (50s), maybe a little older - whatever he may have just looked young for his age. We both got started doing TTMs as youngsters. Bill went the extra mile trying to track down the "lost" players and non-signers. I guess I wasn't that dedicated. :)

I enjoyed my dealings with Zekus, even managed to find a couple of really though Dodgers for his collection.

LOL those where the days. Most of us used to just send each other 50-100 3x5s at a time or more of the same without much regard to value.

[JimStinson]

I was only joking about Bill Corcoran in fact he's younger than me (smile) I guess it only "seems" like we've been around 100 years. I've been trying to get him to join the board so thought with my little dig about his being 100 years old I'd give him a nudge but (so far) hasn't worked.

Bill Corcoran is one of the best autograph guys in the country. His specialty is signed cards. Bill and I were partners on the very first private signing Dr Mike G. Marshall would agree to and it took me 7 years to talk him into doing it.
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[Leon]

If you check out the tab under the "Community" word in the dark blue line going across near the top of each page, you will see some different, but very good, areas of the board. One of those places is a members list. It lists all of our members by their user ID. Every registered member is there. Bill C. signed up a few days ago. LL



I was only joking about Bill Corcoran in fact he's younger than me (smile) I guess it only "seems" like we've been around 100 years. I've been trying to get him to join the board so thought with my little dig about his being 100 years old I'd give him a nudge but (so far) hasn't worked.

Bill Corcoran is one of the best autograph guys in the country. His specialty is signed cards. Bill and I were partners on the very first private signing Dr Mike G. Marshall would agree to and it took me 7 years to talk him into doing it.
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[ss]

Now Jim needs to get Ron Gordon to join!

[RichardSimon]

I encouraged Jim to join this group of hooligans :D but Ron is a desert rat and getting him in here would be a real stretch.
He is one good guy though and very knowledgeable.

[JimStinson]

Wow ! Bill joined ??? No way I won;t believe it until I see a post , maybe its a different Bill C. , They said that Dylan was going to show up at Woodstock too and never did.

Ron ???? Forget it , he is busy chasing Coyotes and rattlesnakes but he's STILL the best football autograph guy in the country

[JimStinson]

I found this old photo as proof (maybe this will bring him out of his cave), Thats left to right...me, Kid Gavilan, Boom Boom Mancini, The late boxing historian and Hall of Famer Hank Kaplan, Baseball card expert Lloyd Thompkins and Bill Corcoran far right.

[MooseDog]

Ron was another guy I remember from my early years. Good guy, great stuff and very generous. Been so long he probably wouldn't remember me but I think it would be great if he were to join.