May Pickups
 

My month of hopefully some good pickups was kicked off last night (after Midnight, so it was May!) on a business trip when I met Pedro Martinez in the hotel restaurant! Pays to always have a sharpie and an index card on you :) As a Yankees fan, hard to like the player, but as a guy he was pretty cool to talk to!

http://vmedia.rivals.com/uploads/1080/1399599.jpg

Paul & Lloyd Waner...
 

Just received this today from a fellow Net54 member...Thanks again David!

Pedro Martinez was awesome!! Nice snag Matt!

Needless to say, a Future Hall of Famer. Thanks Scott!

Great signature of Petey too. Yankees fan here too, not relevant. Pedro is a GREAT pitcher. Glad he was cool.

That piece from Dave is awesome too. Great guy who has super nice stuff too.

Way to be prepared Matt. I hope you weren't PM'ng me while talking to him;)
James, also a nice pickup...I don't think you know how close I was to picking that up as I saw it right when it was posted. Oh well, it went to a good home. Congrats.

Something about this candid shot with the skyscraper in the background spoke to me.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j2...s67ae3bff.jpeg

Very cool Jon!

Well...
 

Since the signed Ruth's were questionable, I'm excited to add this to my surprisingly growing collection, from Heritage last night. I believe it may be the earliest quad signed card.

Nap Rucker vintage signed 3 x 5
 

It's been a little while since I have posted anything new.
I just picked up this great vintage steel-tipped fountain pen 3 x 5 index card of Nap Rucker.

Nap Rucker was one of the early turn of the century no-hit pitchers.
On September 5, 1908 moundsman Nap Rucker of Brooklyn no-hit the Boston Beaneaters 6-0 at Brooklyn.

Nice pickup Scott. At age 74 Nap still had a very nice/strong sig.

I totally agree Mike. Love those fountain pen sigs, too!
These are ultimately what I like to find for each of these early no-hit pitcher signatures in my personal collection. :)

Scott - Congrats on the pickup! Curious, can we see what your list of needs is still for no-hit pitchers. I was thinking maybe if we see the list, someone will be able to help you out here.

Striking composition. Wow!

Whitey Ford 1950 GPC
 

Got this one in the mail today. I was going to give it to a friend as a gift, but I think i'll hang on to it for awhile!

GPC is postmarked Sept 26, 1950. Whitey won his 9th straight the day before
(9/25) and posted his only loss of the season the day after (9/27). Whitey was called up in July of 1950 and was virtually unstoppable posting a record of 9-1 in the regular season...

Whitey later sealed the deal for the Yanks over the whiz kids with a 5-2 win in game 4 of the series.

I'd want to keep it too!

I made a deal with fellow member baseballart to purchase this signed copy of Effa Manley's 1976 book, Negro Baseball...Before Innovation. As a HOF auto and signed book collector, a rarity like this is quite a pleasing pickup for me.

This makes the 232nd different HOF auto in my collection.

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/f...pscac64dca.jpg

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/f...psac414098.jpg

My favorite comedian of all time, I saw him perform twice at The Beacon Theatre in NYC and he was amazing.
I have a signed photo but just got this piece in an auction.

Just got this today.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ibles/mick.jpg

Picked up this cover yesterday.

Scott, do you remember when that no-hitter ball was auctioned around 10-11 years ago? I think it went for $1k

Won this 1915 Chicago Union Giants letter, signed by WS Peters:

http://bid.robertedwardauctions.com/...emid=25785#pic

Scott, the picture isn't loading.

Ken

Disregard, now the link shows.

Thanks - I am limited to iPhone for a few days and having problems figuring out options. Had to switch to the url

Not baseball related, but I have these two neat autographs coming in this week. Teddy Roosevelt and a Oliver Wendell Holmes letter. I only intended to buy one but the other came along with it (hey I won't complain)

Been bidding for a few years and finally came out on top on a REA lot. An outstanding signed portrait of a 38 year old Thomas Alva Edison, autographed with his distinctive umbrella signature.

http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps73b73079.jpg

http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps981e987d.jpg

Apollo 15 "insurance" cover from the personal collection of Apollo 15 astronaut Al Worden:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...0.jpg~original

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...8.jpg~original


Enter Sandman

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...7.jpg~original

Oops... forgot this one. A little fading, but the price was right. :D

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...5.jpg~original

Great month continues... Just a Gehrig away from completing my Murderers Row project. Want to thank Jim Stinson for allowing me to add this beautiful piece to my collection!!!

http://vmedia.rivals.com/uploads/1080/1401263.jpg

Zipper

Who signed the bottom right of the Mariano photo?

mike

Great Piece there Matt, Congrats!

Figured I'd post this here as well, just won today on REA and I'm very excited. It gets me much closer to completing my 1923 Yankees project and will be a centerpiece of my collection:

great Ruth check!!

Thanks Mike

Nice Erick!!! It's a "twice" signed check too :) Congratulations, it's a beautiful check!

thanks Matt. Yea, I certainly would never cut it to sell it as two "Ruth" cuts, but it's a cool bonus. Plus it's also signed by Claire Ruth on the back, that's why I wanted this one. They had three total checks, I was shocked and delighted that this one went for the least $, as I thought it was the best. I also love the look of blue ink compared to the other ones being black. But They're all nice so congrats if anyone here won one of the other ones!

Anthony Causi, the photographer. There is a little rub mark on the bottom right corner where I suspect a Steiner Hologram was removed. Causi's signature often appears on SPs offered by Steiner.

Love the Edison Mike. Either you or I was lucky as I couldn't justify pulling the trigger. Too many cards and too little time. I've been searching on and off for the past 10 years for the right piece when I'm flush :-) as the man, the look, the signature hit all the right notes. Congrat on a super piece!

the future ain't what it used to be..........

Wow Matt, that's as nice a Lazzeri as I've ever seen. Great pickup.

WOW.
Mantle, Edison, Lazzeri, Ruth check.

There have been some great pick ups this month.

Congrats to everyone. Great items anyone would be proud to add to their collection.

Edison is one of my favorite signatures - great pick-up. He's on my short-list of non-baseball signatures to someday acquire.

Hall of Fame Index Cards
 

Just grabbed my 86th Hall of Famer on an Index Card...never knew he attempted suicide during his playing career...weird stuff. Anyway, thanks to SmokyBurgess for the smooth transaction...

http://www.collectorfocus.com/images...lombardi-ernie

Needle in a haystack find....
 

I just picked up a pretty unusual dual signed piece earlier this week that I'm thrilled to own.

Trivia question:

Q-
Who were the home plate umpires in Johnny Vander Meer's historic back-to-back consecutive no-hitters in 1938?

A-
NL umpire George Magerkurth worked the dish in Vandy's 1st no-hitter against the Boston B's on 6/11/38 at Cincinnati.
Veteran NL umpire and hockey HOF'er Bill Stewart was the home plate umpire for Vandy's 2nd no-hitter against the Brooklyn Dodgers in NY.

What a neat surprise to find a circa 1930's vintage cut signed by both umpires!
Umpire Magerkurth signed 1st, followed by Stewart directly below.
A literal needle in a haystack find for my Vander Meer collection. One additional interesting twist is the fact that the signatures were applied to a Cincinnati-based physician's prescription sheet off his prescription pad. As many of you are aware, Vander Meer pitched for the Cincinnati Reds.

Unique and cool. :cool:
Many thanks to Rhys Yeakley for making this another terrific purchase that's a perfect fit for my collection! :)
For those of you that have never purchased from Rhys before, you're missing a bet. He's one of the best in the hobby to deal with.

Got Vin Scully to pair with Koufax in my collection.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJdli-ONL-8

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../VinScully.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...s/IMAG0313.jpg