Jos. P. DiMaggio

[ocjack]

Still cleaning out closets and going through boxes during the lock-down in California.

Came across my DiMaggio ball that I had him sign at the 1987 National in San Francisco. I asked him to sign his full name. He stared at me for a minute and then asked my name. I told him and he started signing the ball. He handed it back to me and as you can see he personalized it (I guess so it would be harder to sell lol ) and told me this was the way he signed his checks - Jos. P. DiMaggio. Needless to say, I was pleased.

I've seen many DiMaggio signatures, but none signed this way. So showing it here just to add another exemplar to the record.

Hear the wife calling --- back to the closet.

[Wrightfan85]

Interesting story. Thanks for sharing the picture of the ball!

[thetruthisoutthere]

Freaking beautiful DiMaggio!!!

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

I've heard nearly identical stories a time or two in the past. Somebody would ask Joe for a full name signature. If he was in an OK mood, he would begrudgingly give a "Jos. P. DiMaggio", explaining, "That's the way I sign my checks".

The strangest part of it is when I authenticated the autographed material in the DiMaggio estate, all the checks I recall seeing were signed "Joseph DiMaggio". The checks covered the 1980-90 period as I remember. DiMaggio seemingly saved every scrap of paper that came into his life. All I can think is that perhaps he may have signed checks this way years prior, but I don't recall ever seeing any with that variant. A better guess might be that DiMaggio, ever the guarded sort, was extremely wary to dole out a "Joseph DiMaggio" for fear of forgery leading to loss of money. As we know, money, or the loss thereof, always weighed heavily on his mind.

[bjerome]

That is gorgeous!

[sicollector1954]

I was at a 1995 show in Chicago (might have been the National--can't remember). DiMaggio was signing and there was a list of items he would and would not sign. A flat at the time was $175.00...I took a back up Sports Illustrated with me but hoped to get a Dell S.I.signed as my first choice....There was a guy in front of me that had a baseball and his ticket paid stub for signing his ball....It had previously been signed by Ted Williams and Mickey Mantle at 1 or 2 two shows...depending...when Dimaggio got the ball and looked at it...he told the guy...sorry....not signing this!!!!!!!
"I don't sign anything Mantle signed ahead of me"!

The guy had to get out of line...go buy another new baseball for 10 dollars or so...get back in line and have it signed. Nice guy!

TRUE STORY.

P.S. He hollered at my mother also for taking too many pictures...she apparently was holding up the line....lol

[Case12]

Personalized. Now that is a keeper..

[ocjack]

Thanks everyone for the kind words. Yes, it is a keeper.

[cnote08]

Really cool story and exceptional autograph!

[thetruthisoutthere]

Originally Posted by sicollector1954

I was at a 1995 show in Chicago (might have been the National--can't remember). DiMaggio was signing and there was a list of items he would and would not sign. A flat at the time was $175.00...I took a back up Sports Illustrated with me but hoped to get a Dell S.I.signed as my first choice....There was a guy in front of me that had a baseball and his ticket paid stub for signing his ball....It had previously been signed by Ted Williams and Mickey Mantle at 1 or 2 two shows...depending...when Dimaggio got the ball and looked at it...he told the guy...sorry....not signing this!!!!!!!
"I don't sign anything Mantle signed ahead of me"!

The guy had to get out of line...go buy another new baseball for 10 dollars or so...get back in line and have it signed. Nice guy!

TRUE STORY.

P.S. He hollered at my mother also for taking too many pictures...she apparently was holding up the line....lol

Great story!!!

[ocjack]

I used to hear stories about his being upset that people were making money off his signature. So he would limit the number and types of items he would sign, thus driving up their value. If he would have signed anything and everything, the values would have come down. He didn't realize he was creating the surge in market value he so decried.