Del Webb?
 

Sorry, can't seem to find an example of Del's sig. Is this it, or is it some Beth Webb?

That is not the way Del Webb signed documents or anything I have ever seen. Disclosure though, I have never seen a signed ball and sometimes people did print on that format, but usually not this late.

Rhys

Here is the Del Webb from my collection. As you can see his signature is very unusual and distinctive. This is the signature he used for flat items. I do not know what his signature on a baseball would look like except to say that I have never seen his signature on a ball, and it seems to me that his signature as it is on flat items would be hard to do on a baseball. The spelling on your ball looks to be Dell not Del if I am not mistaken. but remember printed names instead of cursive signatures have been used on balls since people started signing balls. I am sorry I have no opinion on the Webb's authenticity on your ball.

Yikes. I know it was a rarity for guys to have sloppy signatures in those days but that's as awful an autograph as I've seen.

Thanks for the replies. It's really hard to tell where the "L" (or "LL") in Del ends and where the Y in Casey takes over.

I agree that Webb's regular sig is atrocious; I really hope the "Scribbles" crowd can jump in and show us how those old-timers had such better writing than current guys!

FWIW, I have a Del Webb on a Yankees signed ball and it's almost identical to the ball posted above. It's a printed signature that looks like a 5 year old wrote it. I'll try to post scans tonight.

Picture is below...

Thanks for posting. I have never seen a Del Webb signature on a ball. He reminds me of those early ball players and even Negro leaguers who could write in cursive on flat items but had to print their name when signing a ball ( which has led to controversy concerning some players autographs...but that is for another thread and time). That was very common then, but I never would have thought a wealthy and educated man like Webb in the 1950s would have to print his name to sign a ball.

Excellent! Thanks for posting. Too bad Webb isn't super-valuable, but it's better than having "Beth Webb's" signature!

Ken

As a member of the "Scribbles crowd, I'll try. Mr. Webb is the pre-war exception, rather than the rule. And, in all fairness to him, at least he wrote "Dell Webb" when signing his name, and not simply, say, a semicircle with a line through it. He just had the bad habit of not moving his pen from left-to-right while writing them.

When was the last time someone posted a picture of a pre-war signature in his collection while asking for help deciphering it?

I think it says something that you can go to Bobby Doerr, who is almost 97 and in failing health, have him sign something today, and his signature is still more legible than 99% of the modern players I have in my collection. I used to go to the Futures at Fenway doubleheader and get autographs there, and if the player didn't add his number, then I'd be clueless as to who it was. One of the reasons I stopped going (and what drove me out of the hobby for a few years) is it just wasn't fun anymore, spending all that time getting signatures that needed all that additional deciphering work.