I was signed pre war when signed pre war wasnt cool

[milkit1]

Just thought Id show off official proof I am Billy Herman's #1 fan
For some reason I didnt get photos with any of the other guys I got in person on 33 Goudeys and I wasnt smart enough to show the card I got signed in the pic but I did get this card signed that day When I get around to it Im going to mat my signed 33 goudey cubs team setwith this photo
billy herman.jpg

[Lordstan]

Very nice Sean.

[Klrdds]

Great memory and a beautiful card.

[milkit1]

Thanks! I believe that was in 1989 based on my beginnings of a mustache lol

[dog*dirt]

Fantastic photo!

[thetruthisoutthere]

That is very cool, Sean.

[Leon]

Very cool..

[Exhibitman]

That's great. I got the same Goudey signed around the early 1990s at a show in SoCal. Also got Rick Ferrell and Chas. Gehringer. I was a little nutty about these things. I brought my own sharpies in different colors to shows and tried to pick good contrasting colors for the players to use.

[milkit1]

Haha that's great! I actually like your herman better!

[daves_resale_shop]

Fantastic Photo and story.

Thanks for sharing Sean!

I think I owned the same sweater back in the day, but mine was in a husky size!

[milkit1]

Haha I was swimming in mine!

[MacDice]

Very cool. I wish I would have that pre-war was cool back in the day. At least I got Rick Ferrell to sign a Goudey for me.



I got Charlie Gehringer to sign a bunch of 1960 and 1961 Fleers but never thought to send him a Goudey.

Also got Billy Herman to sign a few 1954 Topps and 1955 Topps coaches cards but also passed on getting him to sign Goudeys.

[itjclarke]

Cool stuff Sean, your collection is awesome, and even cooler knowing you got much of it in person. I went to lots of shows as a kid. Wish I'd gone your route though, or at least dabbled in pre-war, but I was like many others and getting as many 50's-60's HOFer sigs on whatever cards I could scrounge up.

I do still have some nice cards signed by guys like Gibson, Brock, Carlton, Koufax, Musial, Snider, etc from back then. It was always fun going with my dad because these guys were his heroes.

[milkit1]

thanks guys. Its was quite scary handling a fragile baseball card to an 80+ year old man. Whenever I showed my grandfather my goudeys he would turn those 9 card pages like my two year old turns pages in a book. My reaction was: :O
Still no harm ever came. My dad had the idea of sending these photos in to have signed and add "my #1 fan". I wish I had gotten Leo Durocher but so glad he did that with Billy Herman. Amazing to think that my son was born 98 years after him which means:
Billy Herman is to my son age wise what Cy Young is to me lol

[Cooptown]

I am a little bit offended to see this! Just kidding, although I honestly thought I was always Billy Herman's #1 fan - even though I was born in 1977. You see, Billy Herman married a woman from my hometown - Rome, NY. He even mentions it in his HOF speech (which in today's day and age would be considered an introduction): http://baseballhall.org/node/11189

I am probably going to screw this up, but Billy married one of my cousin's ex-wife's relative. So I always use to tell people growing up (when I was like 8-12 or so) that I was a distant relative of a HOFer.

I never got a Goudey signed, but have a ton of signed Billy Herman signed items. From what I remember, he was an incredibly nice man and very fan friendly.

[milkit1]

Wow cool! Yeah I remember him being incredibly nice and that even shows in the photo. Amazing to think this guy was there for Ruth's "called" (or uncalled) shot.

Originally Posted by Cooptown

I am a little bit offended to see this! Just kidding, although I honestly thought I was always Billy Herman's #1 fan - even though I was born in 1977. You see, Billy Herman married a woman from my hometown - Rome, NY. He even mentions it in his HOF speech (which in today's day and age would be considered an introduction): http://baseballhall.org/node/11189

I am probably going to screw this up, but Billy married one of my cousin's ex-wife's relative. So I always use to tell people growing up (when I was like 8-12 or so) that I was a distant relative of a HOFer.

I never got a Goudey signed, but have a ton of signed Billy Herman signed items. From what I remember, he was an incredibly nice man and very fan friendly.

[Cooptown]

Originally Posted by milkit1

Wow cool! Yeah I remember him being incredibly nice and that even shows in the photo. Amazing to think this guy was there for Ruth's "called" (or uncalled) shot.

Actually, it's funny that you mention that. According to my father, Billy Herman was adamant that Babe Ruth did not call his shot (my Dad was as diehard of a Yankee fan as they come), and instead Ruth was jawing at the Cubs dugout, and pointing yelling obscenities. He was, according to my Dad, adamant that Ruth did not call his own shot.

[itjclarke]

Originally Posted by Cooptown

Actually, it's funny that you mention that. According to my father, Billy Herman was adamant that Babe Ruth did not call his shot (my Dad was as diehard of a Yankee fan as they come), and instead Ruth was jawing at the Cubs dugout, and pointing yelling obscenities. He was, according to my Dad, adamant that Ruth did not call his own shot.

Cool story and connection. If memory serves me right, Herman's interviewed on Ken Burns' "Baseball" saying similar. That version seems very plausible to me, and the famous photo looks more to me like he's gesturing toward the dugout than emphatically pointing to CF.

I think it's actually cool not to know, since everything now has a dozen network camera angles, and potentially thousands of personally shot still and moving footage.. and the Twittersphere. Mystery/mystique is such a great part of baseball's past and one of the hooks for collecting its artifacts.

[milkit1]

yeah its one of those rare baseball enigmas. Its interesting that the Yankees go with it and the cubs dont