Help with info about 1963 HOF Busts
 

Hi Gang:

I found an ad for the 1963 HOF Busts. See below.

In the ad it states:

With every statuette you will receive a story written by Joe Reichler Baseball editor of Associated Press......

Does anyone have any of these "stories"? I have never opened a sealed box of these, so I don't know if the story was included in the box or given away at the point of sale etc.

Anyone have info or know about this?

The story is on the plaque

Fred -
I have also wondered about these "stories," but have never seen one. I have most of the set of these and an unopened bust in its box, but I can't see anything inside it that looks like it would be a booklet or any sort of paper. Maybe it's tucked somewhere in the bottom of the box (?).


Jim - the plaque on the base of the bust is a replica of their plaque at the Hall of Fame. The top paragraph of Fred's ad states this (last sentence) and I've compared most of mine to the actual Cooperstown plaques. The only difference is that the busts have a "Copyright 1963" notation at the bottom of the plaque.

the first few years the plaques were quite short. The in the 40's they expanded. Did he start writing for the HOF?

I believe the plaques have always been written as a collaborative effort by the Hall of Fame staff.

But it appears that Reichler did do some work for the Commish's office after he left the Associated Press in the mid 60s, so maybe he helped out with the writing of the plaques (while he was also apparently stealing artifacts from the Hall).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Reichler


Anyway, I've seen the ad that Fred posted before and have always assumed that there was a small story booklet or at least a one-sheeter included in the boxes with the bust.

Has anyone here ever opened a box?

Hi Jim

As Brad said the plaques on the bust are the wording on the players plaque in Cooperstown and is NOT the story mentioned in the ad.

Bob Lemke posted about this in his blog. You can see it here:

http://boblemke.blogspot.com/2015/06...-spin-off.html

In the article the guy who produced the busts said:

it was insisted that the plaques that appear on the statue's pedestals be an exact reproduction of those that hang on the Hall's walls. He said he did get permission for one variance. The original Hall of Fame plaque for Tris Speaker had an archaic position designation as "centrefielder". Lodmer got permission to use the modernized "center fielder" on his bust.


So, the question remains.... anyone have a story written by Joe R. that were supposed to be issued with the busts?

Cooperstown Hall of Fame Books
 

I am not sure if these are them but there is definitely a series of small booklets about specific players issued by HOF about this time period. They have a line drawn head shot of player with a small action shot on cover. I have a few around and will look Ruth Cobb DiMaggio etc.

Jonathan: Looking forward to seeing examples of your booklets!

Fred