December Pickups
 

Hoping Hodges finally gets elected to the Hall this month

I would guess Hodges and Dick Allen get in with Bob Howsam being very close. Howsam was GM of Cardinals and Reds winning 3 world series titles and many pennants. He was also behind the push of bringing MLB to Denver which has had incredible attendance since their inception despite not so incredible play. Kaat also in consideration with Minnie Minoso.

Giovanni,

Good luck! I hope he makes it for ya. I thought about waiting myself because if he gets in, there will be a rush from all the HOF signed rookie collectors to snag one of those, but I decided to let it go to a good home ;) Enjoy, will ship out tomorrow.

Mike

I had been searching for a quality Ruth signature for some time. When I finally ran across this one, I knew it was the one. A thank you shout out goes to knowledgeable board members Shelly Jaffe and Jim Stinson who gave me both opinions and advice on my new purchase. I'm thankful!

http://photos.imageevent.com/ltsgall...hautograph.jpg

That's amazing.

I love that the Ruth is on an original period photo, as well as how crisp and bold it is. Just tremendous.

Tom C

December pickups
 

[Snip]

Not to hate, but this forum is mainly for Autograph pickups, there is another December pickups in the Vintage Memorabilia Forum.

Think your pickups would be more appreciated there.

Oops. Sorry for the mistake!

Tony,
That Ruth signed photo is awesome. Congrats! :)

HB "Dutch" Leonard signed GPC
 

I was able to recently scratch off one of the genuine toughees on my want list of early vintage no-hit pitcher signatures:

Hubert Benjamin "Dutch" or "HUB" Leonard (D-1952) pitched for the Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers during his 13 year ML career. Dutch Leonard has the distinction of holding the lowest single season ERA in the modern era of baseball (post 1900). "HUB" had a microscopic ERA of 0.96 during his 1914 season with the Boston Red Sox.

Additionally, Leonard hurled the second ever no-hitter at historic Fenway Park on August 30, 1916. In his career, Leonard actually pitched two no-hitters, the second one on June 3, 1918 also with Boston.

Here is a picture of my HB "Dutch" Leonard 1948 GPC, a photo of Dutch from 1916 and an actual game ball that I own from Leonard's 1st no-hitter in 1916:

Thanks Joel, Tom & Scott. Decemeber is off to a grand start.
Keep em' comin guys.....

Scott,
The Dutch Leonard autograph is great addition to your collection but the baseball is really impressive!!

Thanks Kevin! It's one of my favorite items in my collection. I suspect that the darkness of the ball is partially due to the fact that "Dutch" was a sometimes spitballer. It's amazing how much use balls got during the deadball era...

Wasn't it Dutch Leonard who almost got Tris Speaker and Ty Cobb thrown out of baseball due to game fixing allegations? At a minimum, it led to Cobb losing his job as player/manager with Detroit and sent him packing to the A's to play out the string.

Tom C

Tom,
You are absolutely correct! Dutch Leonard was an enigma of sorts and thought to be a weasel/whiney-baby by many.

Here is some history on the feud between Dutch Leonard and Ty Cobb from Wikipedia:
Dutch Leonard and Ty Cobb

Even before their player-manager feud, Leonard and Cobb had a history. In 1914, Leonard hit Cobb in the ribs with a fastball. In the next at bat, Cobb dragged a bunt which the Red Sox first baseman was forced to field. Cobb later described the play as follows: "Leonard ran to first to take the throw. When he saw I was going for him and not the bag, he kept running into the coaching box. Damned coward. I ignored the bag, drove right through after him ... he ran toward the dugout and missed cutting him by inches." (Al Stump, Cobb: The Life and Times of the Meanest Man Who Ever Played Baseball, p. 213)

A full feud broke when Cobb took over as the Tigers' manager in 1921. Cobb took pleasure in fining Leonard, who enjoyed late nights, for violating curfew. At one point in the 1921 season, Leonard was 11–13, despite a respectable ERA; Cobb left his office door open so that Leonard could hear him on the phone, faking a call: "I'm putting that damned Dutchman on waivers." (Al Stump, Cobb, p. 140) In 1922, Leonard and Cobb fought over how to pitch to George Sisler and Tris Speaker. Leonard cursed Cobb to his face during the dispute, and Leonard ended up quitting the team in 1921, calling Cobb a "horse's ass." (Al Stump, Cobb, p. 340)

When Leonard returned to the Tigers in 1924 after two seasons in the San Joaquin Valley League, the feud with Cobb resumed. By the middle of the 1925 season, Leonard was 11–3, but that did not stop Cobb from accusing Leonard of being a shirker. In front of the team, Cobb berated Leonard: "Don't you dare turn bolshevik on me. I'm the boss here." (Richard Bak, Peach, p. 147) Leonard accused Cobb of over-working him, and Cobb responded in July 1925 by leaving Leonard on the mound for an entire game despite Leonard's giving up 20 hits and taking a 12–4 beating. After that, Leonard refused to pitch for Cobb. As a result, the Tigers put Leonard on waivers, and when no team picked him up, his baseball career came to an end. (Al Stump, Cobb, p. 364)

Rumors began to spread that Leonard was claiming he "had something" on Cobb. Leonard was quoted as saying, "I am going to expose that bastard Cobb, I'll ruin him." (Al Stump, Cobb, p. 371) And in 1926 Leonard sought his revenge, contacting [American league president Ban Johnson]] and accusing Cobb of being involved in gambling and/or fixing games with Tris Speaker. Leonard claimed that Speaker and Cobb had conspired before a 1919 Tigers-Indians game to allow the Tigers to win, enabling the team to reach third place and qualify for World Series money. To corroborate his story, Leonard produced letters written at the time (one by Cobb and one by Smoky Joe Wood) that obliquely referred to gambling or game-fixing. When Johnson made Leonard's letter public in December 1926, it started a scandal.

Cobb was called to testify at a hearing before Commissioner Landis, and denied Leonard's allegations. Cobb noted that Leonard "had the reputation in the past of being a bolshevik on the club." (Al Stump, Cobb, p. 382) Leonard declined to appear and testify at the hearing, saying he feared a physical attack from "that wild man." In the absence of Leonard's testimony, Landis found Cobb and Speaker not guilty.

Interesting Dutch Leonard factoid:
Leonard finally retired to the Fresno, CA area and grew grapes and made wine and did quite well. His hobby was collecting vinyl records and I've read that his collection was one of the largest that was ever amassed at that time. When Leonard died he had amassed a reasonably large estate estimated at greater than $2.1 million (over $18 million in todays dollars). :eek:

that ruth is phenomenal tony...color me extremely envious!

i'm literally still drooling over that ruth signed photo. i know he signed a million autos and blah blah but that's still babe ruth, the king of our sports-centric universe. no offense to the 12th signer of the DOI or some forgotten european monarch that i'm just not into...give me the freakin' ruth, a figure that i can relate to!

Thanks Q. You're the best..........

+1

Wow - Tony that is really awesome! :eek:

Cheers,
Blair

Thanks Blair........

I echo Q's reply, couldn't say it better!!

]Picked this up yesterday. Reminds me of stories my grandmother told me as she grew up in Brooklyn even though this picture is post accident. Reese signed

http://i1373.photobucket.com/albums/...ps54aa73cf.jpg[/URL]

why yes, I did HAVE to have this!
 

measures 9 x 3.5'. It will not lay completely flat, so I'm thinking it was not bunting hung from a rail but rather a bunting that "wrapped around" a podium or something like that...

edit: sorry, wrong place to post this. I'm kinda new here :p. Moved to memorabilia pick ups.

Bunting piece is awesome

Nice one, Rob!! Perfect for your mancave.

Tony: Congratulations on the Ruth! It's a Beauty!

Thanks again everyone. Much appreciated.

1977 Chong Modesto A's, Ricky Henderson

This is a monster....about the same rarity as Charlotte Ripken??

Depends on which Charlotte Ripken. The blue version is a pretty close comparison. The orange version is still much rarer, IMHO.

BTW, Great pick up Giovanni.

I love this forum. I've had this auto for a while. I was fortunate enough to pick up an upgrade--a signed ball from Scott (thanks Scott!)--so I threw this up on the BST. David (Daves_Resale_Shop) messaged me regarding the price. He then messages me and tells me he thinks I can do a lot better on the piece if I frame it and put it on eBay. The kicker, he decides to mail me a mat for free that he thinks will compliment it well.

It is now resting comfortably in my display case and not sure if I'll be able to remove it to sell it as I love the look (thanks David!).

http://i1345.photobucket.com/albums/...ps57cecc65.jpg

Circa 1938 Williams
 

Tony, that Ruth is exquisite! and Chris, the Mantle looks great!

As some of you may know, for the last year and a half (maybe two), I have been transforming my three year old son's room into a Man Cave of sorts...The focus has been on my favorite player: Ted Williams... I prefer flats over other mediums as i feel they make for great displays...

Now to the point: I have been looking for a Pre-Rookie Williams signature for quite some time, and I can never seem to find the fish hook "T" variation on anything but a ball.

This one recently came to market & I had to grab it...

First off, its a monster (rougly 5x7"), has the graphs of 4 other Hall of Famers

My research leads me to believe it was signed some time during Ted's first spring training with the Sox in 1938. Hall of famers aside, I think the Bob Daughters signature is very interesting...

Bob played in one major league game (april 24, 1937-Boston's home opener), versus the Yankees. Daughters pinch ran for Rick Ferrell in the 10th, managed to score a run... he never got to bat and his big league career was over...

Very Happy to add this one to our collection, not sure how I'm going to display it, If anyone has suggestions please pm me...

Many Thanks & Happy Holidays to all of the great members that make this board what it is...

Dave

I love Teddy Ball Games early sigs, nice pick up!

Over Thanksgiving weekend I picked up a lot of items saved by a 1904 Olympic gold medalist. All of the items in the group are from his participation in the 1906 Olympic Games in Athens also called the intercalated games. There are 36 signatures all signed on the back of his business/calling cards. It includes every U.S. gold medalist, every U.S. medalist except one and 27 of the 38 U.S. team members. Also includes two James Sullivan signatures; a card and TLS. The Sullivan Award, top U.S. amateur athlete, is named after him. There are also the signatures of the King of Greece and his three sons. One of his sons, Andrew, is the father of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinborough, husband of Queen Elizabeth.

Here are a few signatures:

Martin Sheridan (1881-1918) – 5 gold and 9 total Olympic medals. Three-peat in the discus (1904, 1906, 1908 gold). In the top three in rarity for U.S. gold medalists for the sports that people collect. He is on all want lists for serious Olympic collectors. This is the first one I have seen that I recall. For baseball collectors think Rube Wadell. Unfortunately not as valuable, still a low 4 figure signature.

Myer Prinstein (1878-1925) – 4 gold and 1 silver medal, 1900, 1904, 1906, all in the long jump and triple jump. Top 5 in rarity of U.S. gold medalist for the sports that people collect. Also on everyone’s want list. This is the only one I have ever seen. All records give his first name as ‘Meyer’. This signature actually corrects that mistake.

Ray Ewry (1873-1937) – The ultimate Olympic champion. He competed in 10 events in the 1900, 1904, 1906 and 1908 Olympic Games and won a gold medal in every event. This includes 2 4-peats. Some people do not count the 1906 games since they do not follow the quadrennial rule, but many real historians treat them as such as they fulfill all other requirements. Including the 1906 games, only Michael Phelps has won more gold medals. Excluding the 1906 games he still has 8 golds without any other medal. The only active athlete who could tie or pass him is Usain Bolt with 6 gold medals.

Hugo Friend (1882-1966) – Bronze medal in the long jump at the 1906 Olympics. He became a lawyer and was then appointed a judge. He is well known to baseball collectors as the judge for the 1919 Chicago Black Sox trial. He lived a long time, but this is his signature as a young man about 15 years before the trial.

Lastly, the jersey patch worn by the athlete. Any pre-WWI 'games used' item is very rare.

Giovanni - is that my old BVG Rickey that you cracked out and got signed? Pretty cool!

And to answer some subsequent questions about the '77 Chong set, purportedly only 400 sets were created and most (250-300) were destroyed in a Chicago fire. I can't seem to find any reference to this online, although I certainly recall reading about this somewhere. This card is on the want list for almost every Rickey Henderson player checklist. But the price tag makes it tough to fill. That said, it deserves a lot more respect and should be valued higher than the 1980 Ripken (Blue), although recent price xp suggests otherwise.

Picked up this nice Ernie off the Bay last night. Always loved this card:

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps907a987c.jpg

Got this one back from the framer yesterday... paired it with an image of Ted while in Sarasota during spring training... It now sits in my Son's room (my man cave) above my other favorite Williams piece (circa 1939 snapshot likely signed in 1940)... I don't think I ever shared that one, but was stunned when I found out that a fellow member (Thanks Scott!) had a similar photo that was likely taken seconds before or after the one I had... I'm very grateful that he was willing to part with it, as I believe things like these are meant to be together.

Teddy Ballgame looking great. Super result as always, Dave.
:)

Dave,
As always your framed Williams piece is outstanding!!!

Thanks
 

For the compliments guys, I really do appreciate it.

Happy Holidays!

Some pick ups from the past month or so.
1. Ernie "Tiny" Bonham
2. Tom Gastall
In keeping with my death while on a MLB roster I added those 2.
Also picked 2 full name checks:
1. A full name Orestes Minnie Minoso check, and
2. A full name John H. Wagner check. This is my 4th Honus Wagner autograph, and my 3rd signature variation of his and my first check of his.
Lastly picked up:
1. A full name Leo "Gabby" Hartnett and
2. A vintage Chief Bender GPC from 1931 signed Chief C A Bender. I had been looking for this vintage and rarer version of his signature for a while to go along with my HNS of his from 1949 signed more commonly as Chief Bender. Interestingly I was the under bidder on this exact piece when it was auctioned this past October, so I feel lucky to have had a second chance to get this , albeit at a little higher price.
Happy Holidays and Happy Collecting

All great pickups! (as usual)

Thought this was cool. maybe this book could be made at restaurant, then signed? Is Emily lady in picture? I know that he had a photo that could be made if he was there.

part of scan blurry, but all is very bold:)

will be for sale at some point, but tho not a super valuable item. I like;)

Been a while...
 

since I have gotten anything of importance, but now with some purchases and trades I got these guys.

I kind of have my own HOF signed rookie list, and I believe I now have 102 signed HOF rookies out of a 178 possible. Finally got over 99!

autos
 

Brent- great pickups tho I believe the Faber is wife signed

Forgot...
 

About this guy. In the regards to the W517, we both figured it would be wife signed and it was basically just a toss in lol

A couple of small upgrades for me this month, as I am a fan of official documents-

I haven't seen an Earl Averill check offered for sale in 10+ years, so I had to grab one when it came available-
http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...s6fb9e66a.jpeg

Plus, picked up Bucky Harris on signed letterhead, even though he initialed his first and middle name, still up my alley with the letterhead.

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps4pey2pd5.jpg

Taz,
I love both pick ups. Great items as always. Always like checks or letters when possible also.