Autograph research pays off!

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Posted By: Leslie Westbrook

I posted a few weeks ago about a T-206 Leach card that I bought on Ebay that has the signature of a "Chas. Kelly" and his address written below his name. I became curious about the remote possibility of this being the Charles, or Charlie, Kelly that played for Philadelphia in 1883-86. I looked up the address on Google Earth and determined that that house was only about 5 blocks from the Phillies' first ballfield.

According to the online Baseball Almanac website, Charles H. Kelly played three games total in the big leagues between 1883 and 1886. Also, Kelly is pictured on an N172.

All that said, my research came to a conclusion tonight when I got an email response from Paul Davis (grandson of H.K. Shigley). Shigley had owned an extensive collection of baseball autographs and Davis inherited them. Paul emailed me a scan of his Chas. H. Kelly signature. Below are photos of both my T206 and his signed index card.

He said that on the back of the index card his grandfather wrote, "May 2, 1927, Philadelphia"--probably the date and place it was signed.


This is the index card.
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A very photoshopped version of my t206:
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Original image of the T206:
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Anyone think this could be authenticated by a grading company based on this information? What would the tag on the holder say?

This is the first time I've seen a card of one player that is signed by another. I think it's pretty cool.

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Posted By: brian

are you sure that is an index card? How big is it? It looks too long horizontally to be an index card.

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Posted By: Leslie Westbrook

...if its an index card or not. However, I do believe it's a small white card. I didn't really think that detail mattered too much.