Hank Aaron Autograph 1954

[JimStinson]

Thought this might be of interest. I bought this Government postcard as part of Ralph Winnie's collection years ago. Ralph would get the players autographs before or shortly after their major league debut. Note this Hank Aaron GPC is postmarked 4/27/1954 and is dated above the signature 4/26/1954. Also note that its postmarked from Milwaukee, Hank Aaron had his major league debut April 13th, 1954. Less than 2 weeks before this was supposed to be signed. Someone showed it to Aaron at a card show and he said "I never signed that" ...I was amazed he would have someone signing for him 2 weeks into his rookie season but I never the less put it on the shelf.

A few years ago several pre major league handwritten letters written and signed by Aaron sold at auction for ALOT of money, I looked at not just the signature but the handwritting and it appeared to match this GPC. So either Aaron was using a ghost signer almost immediately upon his major league debut or he can't recognize his own signature.
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[JimStinson]

Even more interesting is the fact that Milwaukee played AT St Louis on April 25th and the 26th was an "off" day in which they returned to Milwaukee to play the Giants on the 27th.

[mcgwirecom]

Hi, I am by no means an expert on Hank Aaron. But when I first looked at the signature I didn't think it looked like his. I kept this scan of a pre-rookie Aaron letter I saw .

[Exhibitman]

That's why autograph collecting can be such a crapshoot...Even something that looks really good might be questionable. Here is what I like to call "The Two Jakes":




Same promotional PC, both postmarked in the early 1950s. Is one real and one secretarial? Both secretarial? Both real? WTF do I know???

Here's a recent example:

[travrosty]

I see lots of similarities between the Aaron signed letter and the Aaron signed GPC. More than entirely possible he signed both pieces himself.

[MooseDog]

The LaMotta sigs are an interesting case.

To my eye, and from my many years of getting in-person signatures, I picked on on some signing habits of lefties vs righties.

The Jakes were signed by different people. The one on the purple background was signed by a lefty. I am not an expert on boxing or Lamotta's signature, and I don't know if Jake signed left or right handed, but from the looks of the PSA slabbed card, if that one is legit, then the one on the purple background is the likely secretarial.

[earlywynnfan]

While I agree that the purple background LaMotta seems to be the odd one out, be careful saying it was signed by a lefty. I write righthanded, but thanks to my gnarly deathgrip, my letters have all the slant and characteristics of a lefty. Several times I've had people actually watch me write, and as they look at the words say "I didn't know you wrote lefthanded!" while I'm still holding the pen in my right hand!

Ken

[JimStinson]

The November 14th, 1950 postcard appears to be written and signed by his wife the late Vikki LaMotta or if not looks exactly like her handwritting. They were divorced in 1957,
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[Exhibitman]

Found this on Ebay; interesting comparison:

[JimStinson]

That photo is the photo that I had both Vikki and Jake sign when I did private signings with them. There was that one and one of them both posed on a train platform. They signed 50 of each pose. I did the signing with Vikki at her place in Florida and Jake signed in NYC. By her own admission she signed alot of autographs through the mail for Jake when they were married
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[JimStinson]

Getting back to Aaron...............Randall Thanks a million for posting that vintage Hank Aaron letter. Its very obvious that the "SINCERELY" is identical to the GPC and the "H" in Henry is very unusual and matches the one in the GPC almost exactly.

[daves_resale_shop]

JIm,

so I spent the day in cooperstown and came across this one with your post in mind... the h in hank, resembles that in yours... this is from a 1952 northern league ball that "hank" signed while in AA ball...

perhaps a rare variant of his signature?

[GrayGhost]

you were in Cooperstown today? LUCKY. I don't know when/if I'll ever get there again...

Great ball too

[bender07]

Originally Posted by GrayGhost

you were in Cooperstown today? LUCKY. I don't know when/if I'll ever get there again...

Great ball too

Love the Aaron GPC. Incredible that the collector had the sense to get these guys so early in their careers.

I'll be in C'town in two weeks for my 24th consecutive HOF induction weekend. Can't wait!

[ATP]

Reviving a semi old thread that you started Jim. I came across this example of a Hank Aaron autograph from 1954 (purportedly obtained at a train station). There are about a dozen or so other Braves signatures in the album, Roy Smalley Jr. being one of them, and he only played with them during the 1954 season. Assuming it is authentic, it has some similarities to the others posted, but is quite different as well, most likely because of a more rushed nature of signing in a group, as opposed to probably sitting while signing the letter and GPC originally posted. Thoughts?

[dspuria]

I have been a big Aaron collector for almost 30 years and I have examples from 1954 - 2014. Unfortunately, I do not think Richard's post card is real: Aaron's handwriting was and is much sloppier; I have never seen an Aaron autograph with quotation marks around Hank; and that autograph does not match any vintage Aaron autographs I have. I do think ATP's Aaron autograph is real.

My humble opinion.

[jimjim]

My 2 cents... I would agree that the postcard and the letter were signed by the same person. The handwriting is the same. So if Hank signed the letter, then he signed the postcard. The only issue would be if somebody wrote the letter for him. I guess that is possible, but I would lean to them both being signed by Aaron.