Collecting Signed Personal Checks?
 

Hey everyone, I'm new to the forums and was wondering if anyone collects signed, personal checks of baseball players? I've always been fascinated by the area and find it to be an interesting way to collect signatures of many of the legends. I'd love to hear stories if anyone has any, and about any of the big collections of checks out there, if much is known. I do know that Jimmy Spence has a huge collection and I've always wondered about the rest.

Lefty Grove....
 

You can see a few of mine by clicking on the link below....

http://www.bandkgreen.net/lefty_grove/checks.htm

Here's a thread about them from a couple of years ago w/ some insightful posts & scans

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthr...ersonal+Checks

Great thread! Thanks for finding this for me. I've always wondered what some of the rarest known checks are out there. I've seen a Jim Bottomley or two over the years and would love to get my hands on one. Any other names that are exceedingly rare and only a handful exist?

There are several HOFers of which a lone example of a signed check is known. You would assume (and correctly so) that most of these autographs would be tough to procure in any instance. Actually, some of the toughest are incredibly easy to procure on practically any other medium. It's an interesting category of collecting to be certain.

Another nice attribute of signed checks is that they give you the precise day and year that it was signed... a glimpse into the player's life.

Do you know of any like this in particular? I remember seeing a lone Eddie Collins on HA a few years back, maybe 2-3 Bottomleys, 4-5 Hack Wilsons, etc. I regret having missed out on Johnny Mize and Luis Aparicio on eBay 2 years ago!!!

I hate that the card companies are cutting these checks up and making "cards" out of checks. They have a redemption for everything else, why not a redemption for the full uncut check.

I wonder how the price and value of vintage checks will be affected by modern day banking's "check Imaging" in which cancelled checks are not returned in your monthly statement? What we have available now in paper form, is about it. Few if any modern checks will be entering the collector market.

Unfortunately, thanks to modernizations in technology and thought, two highly poplular methods of collecting are on the virge of extinction: checks and 3X5s. I'll miss the latter even more. At least some players who refuse to sign blank 3X5s will sign custom 3X5s with their pictures printed on them. It doesn't have the same feel, however.

Why would a player refuse to sign a blank 3x5 card?

A few years ago, somebody came up with the notion that blank 3X5s could be used to assist in identity theft. By the time current players reach A or AA ball, it seems like a handler or agent has already instructed them against the perceived evils of 3X5s. Ridiculous.

Jodi is right. I have seen Single A players who may not ever sniff the majors tell people in Spring Training, "I've been told not to sign those."

thx for the link jay.

also, what kind of searches do you guys do on ebay to see different players' checks all in one search?

I collect all sorts of celebrity signed checks, not just baseball.

Here are a couple that might be of interest to people here at the Net 54...

This is a 1983 check from Hall-of-Famer and Mets broadcaster Ralph Kiner made out to "Kiners Korner Inc"...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3103/...84ceaeee_b.jpg
(For security purposes, the routing number has been digitally removed from this image.)

Here's Kiner's handwritten endorsement on the back of that same check...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3188/...7f0_z.jpg?zz=1


Finally, a 1961 Casey Stengel check with a reference to the New York Mets in Stengel's own hand - six months before the team ever played a game! This check was written October 12, 1961, two days after the expansion draft in which the players who would comprise the inaugural 1962 Mets were selected.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2756/...6f1cabb0_b.jpg

Unfortunately, bank cancellation holes go through the handwritten words "N. Y. Mets," but it's still a pretty historic piece, I reckon.

I've got a number of celebrity checks (not just sports) scanned and posted on Flickr, and if you're so inclined you can check them out here.

Why won't players sign 3 x 5s now?


http://www.amazon.com/b?%5Fencoding=...&creative=9325

I only have one, from Smoky Joe Wood.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...e/IMG_0397.jpg

Besides signed personal checks, endorsement & payroll checks are neat too!

http://www.qualitycards.com/pictures/checks14.jpg

Here's a pair of Catfish Hunter payroll/expense checks

http://www.qualitycards.com/pictures/checks10.jpg

On eBay look under sports cards and memorabilia category and type in "signed checks". I typically look under the "newly listed" subcategory since I look every couple of days. I hope this helps! ;)