Autograph ID and interesting collegiate pickup

jt39 · #1 08-21-2011, 08:09 PM

I am something of a serial thrift store picker, but only rarely do I find anything baseball related. Today, much to my surprise, I spotted three baseballs, all intriguing for their own reasons, and well worth the 96 cents each I was charged (if for no other reason than to have some quality balls to play catch with).

First, I found a William D. White National League ball with an unidentified signature on it. It feels familiar to me, but I just can't figure out who it is. Any help with an ID would be much appreciated!

Second, I found what appear to be two collegiate game balls. Both are ID'd as being college balls, and both contain inscriptions (unfortunately not very attractive) - "FSU April 25, 1992" and "5/1/92 Texas". Google results show that Miami played FSU on April 25, 1992, so I am assuming the former owner was a player on that team. I couldn't find a Texas or Miami schedule to verify.

If anyone has any interest in the collegiate baseballs, let me know -- I'd love to trade them for something similarly interesting but not necessarily valuable (my main interest is 40's-50's Brooklyn Dodgers/NY Giants), or failing that give them away to a good home.

bobw · #2 08-21-2011, 08:12 PM

Looks like Andre Dawson

brickyardkennedy · #3 08-21-2011, 08:13 PM

Albie Pearson?!?

brickyardkennedy · #4 08-21-2011, 08:18 PM

Bob's right. It's Dawson

jt39 · #5 08-21-2011, 08:42 PM

Thanks gents -- the Hawk, not bad! Knew I'd seen it somewhere. I'm definitely happy to add a HOF'er for $0.96.

mschwade · #6 08-22-2011, 07:19 AM

Those two college baseballs came from a Miami (Fla) player.. They beat Florida State, 5-4, on April 25, 1992 and beat Texas 6-1 on May 1, 1992. Probably not much in value unless something big happened in that game.. The best thing going for you is it a Texas home baseball when they were still in the SWAC. It's probably worth more to the particular player that owned these because of personal value though. I still have my first college hit against Virginia Tech sitting on my desk in my den.

EDIT: I did some more research, something that might add a little more value to your baseballs is the fact 1992 was Ron Fraser's last year as coach at Miami after 30 years-- compiling 1,271 wins, 2 national championships (1982, 1985), and 12 CWS appearances including 1992.

jt39 · #7 08-22-2011, 12:48 PM

Thanks for the info! Do you mind sharing where you found it? I'd love to see a box score or something to do a little more digging.

I didn't figure these would be very valuable from a money perspective -- and it seems that whoever owned them decided they weren't worth keeping around for sentimental reasons, though they could have been the victim of an overzealous parent or spouse. Had I been talented enough to play college ball, I'm sure I'd have a collection of all my moments as well. Heck, I've still got some little league/high school home run balls floating around somewhere!

If anyone is interested in these, please let me know -- like I said, I'd appreciate a nominal trade item if that works out, but mostly I just want them to go somewhere they'd be appreciated.

Quote:

Those two college baseballs came from a Miami (Fla) player.. They beat Florida State, 5-4, on April 25, 1992 and beat Texas 6-1 on May 1, 1992. Probably not much in value unless something big happened in that game.. The best thing going for you is it a Texas home baseball when they were still in the SWAC. It's probably worth more to the particular player that owned these because of personal value though. I still have my first college hit against Virginia Tech sitting on my desk in my den.

EDIT: I did some more research, something that might add a little more value to your baseballs is the fact 1992 was Ron Fraser's last year as coach at Miami after 30 years-- compiling 1,271 wins, 2 national championships (1982, 1985), and 12 CWS appearances including 1992.

mschwade · #8 08-22-2011, 01:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jt39

Thanks for the info! Do you mind sharing where you found it? I'd love to see a box score or something to do a little more digging.

On the one ball, I saw the April 25, 1992 and FSU so I had a hunch it was a ball played against Florida State. So I went to Florida State's baseball site and pulled up a media guide to see if it said who they played on that date and it said Miami (FL). I then looked at the other baseball and best guessed from the picture that the date was 5/1/92 and noticed it said Texas at the bottom, which was a part of the SWC back then so it made sense. So I went to Texas' baseball web site and pulled up their media guide and saw they played Miami (FL) on that date so bingo, we have a common opponent meaning that's 99.9% sure where the balls came from. Unfortunately, you're going to have to contact Miami (FL)'s Athletics Communication's office to try and get a box score from each of those games and I am not sure they're going to have one still. I went to Wikipedia to look up how Miami Hurricanes baseball did in 1992 when I noticed it was Fraser's last season after 30 years. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami_Hurricanes_baseball). Hope that helps!

Matt

Bigdaddy · #9 08-22-2011, 09:36 PM

Good pickup on the Dawson. Is it a National or American League Ball, or a Major League Ball? Up until several years ago, there were seperate National and American League Baseballs, each with the signature of the appropriate league commissioner. Later they went to one single MLB ball for both leagues.

BTW, Dawson lives in Miami, so that all fits together with the Miami game balls.

jt39 · #10 08-22-2011, 10:52 PM

Thanks again Matt.

Tom - it is an NL ball (William White). Fits the time frame.

There's only one question left -- if the guy played at Miami, and could have even got the Dawson ball in Miami ... how the hell did these things end up in a thrift store in Northern Virginia?!

mschwade · #11 08-23-2011, 06:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jt39

Thanks again Matt.

Tom - it is an NL ball (William White). Fits the time frame.

There's only one question left -- if the guy played at Miami, and could have even got the Dawson ball in Miami ... how the hell did these things end up in a thrift store in Northern Virginia?!

He doesn't pay rent, his storage unit goes up for auction, and auction winner sees no value in the baseballs and they end up in a thrift shop

You've seen the shows!

thecatspajamas · #12 08-23-2011, 10:22 AM

Or the guy moved back in with his parents after college, his parents finally get him out of the house some time later, and mom drags all his stuff that he left behind down to Goodwill.

tachyonbb · #13 08-23-2011, 10:53 AM

This does confuse me a little. I was always under the impression that the
"Championship" ball was only used at the College World Series. I have a collection of same going back many years.

Did college teams use the "Championship" labeled ball during regular season games? I thought they used "Conference" balls (i.e. Southwest Conference, Big 8 Conference etc.) balls during the regular season. Pure speculation but was this a leftover from the prior year CWS used by Miami in a regular season game?

mschwade · #14 08-23-2011, 12:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tachyonbb

This does confuse me a little. I was always under the impression that the
"Championship" ball was only used at the College World Series. I have a collection of same going back many years.

Did college teams use the "Championship" labeled ball during regular season games? I thought they used "Conference" balls (i.e. Southwest Conference, Big 8 Conference etc.) balls during the regular season. Pure speculation but was this a leftover from the prior year CWS used by Miami in a regular season game?

Bare with me, I had my wife go into my den and take this picture so its not the best of quality. My first hit though came in an Atlantic 10 Conference game against Virginia Tech in 1999 and this was the label also: