The Curious Case of Jimmie Foxx

[cjedmonton]

Foxx autos are not rare, but I thought this was pretty unique.

1. He signed the back of a Charles Comiskey HOF Postcard.

2. PSA incorrectly labeled it as an Artvue Type 1, although it is an Albertype Tyoe 1 from 1944. They are the only ones that abbreviate NY in Cooperstown, NY as opposed to spelling out the word New York. That and the line of text runnning up to the postmark clearly says Albertype.

3. PSA deems the salutation "Greeting, from Cooperstown" and the addressee's info to be in an unkown hand (not Foxx's).

4. The postmark shows it was mailed from Cooperstown on Jul, 24, 1951. Foxx and Ott were inducted Jul 23, 1951, but Foxx and Connie Mack were the only HOF attendees that year.

This is fascinating to me. Who wrote the salutation and addressee info? The addressee himself? Foxx's assistant (if he had one?). His brother Sam (who was known to occasionally sign for him)? Why use Comiskey's card? Was it just what was available at the time? All other inductees up to that point would have had their own card. Gehringer was the last inductee before him in '49. and research shows that the HOF gift shop did not typically have the current year's induction class in stock until after the fact.

We know Foxx was inducted the day before and was in Cooperstown. Could this be one of his earliest signed HOF postcards..even if it wasn't his own?

Anyway, I've been looking to add a Foxx auto for a few years know, so am very happy to add one with a cool narrative.

As for PSA's mislabel...is it worth sending in to reholder it with the correct description?

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Someone spotted Foxx in Cooperstown and they already had this PC in hand, so that was the most convenient thing to have autographed. Foxx could have been sighted near the gift shop at the HOF, so the autograph seeker quickly purchased this PC for autograph purposes, then literally walked across the street to the post office to mail it.

[cjedmonton]

Originally Posted by BillyCoxDodgers3B

Someone spotted Foxx in Cooperstown and they already had this PC in hand, so that was the most convenient thing to have autographed. Foxx could have been sighted near the gift shop at the HOF, so the autograph seeker quickly purchased this PC for autograph purposes, then literally walked across the street to the post office to mail it.

That's most plausible. Interesting to have this pinned down to one of the few times he was there. He only returned in '63 and '65.