Opinion of value of baseball- Ruth, Wilson etc
 

I've owned this since 2010 and since I really do not collect signed balls have been thinking of selling. What do you think a fair value is? Description is as follows
This "Official League" ball (no manufacturer listed) features the black fountain pen signatures of fourteen members of the 1931 Chicago Cubs, plus that of Babe Ruth and Joe McCarthy. Ruth's signature (grading "8") shares the sweet spot with that of Cubs player/manager Rogers Hornsby (the signatures slightly overlap), while McCarthy's signature appears on a side panel. The remaining signatures on the ball are those of Hack Wilson, Gabby Hartnett, Kiki Cuyler, Charlie Grimm, Woody English, Riggs Stephenson, Billy Jurges, Guy Bush, Pat Malone, Bob Smith, Ed Baecht, Bud Teachout (on the ball label), and John Blake. There is one additional signature on the ball that is illegible. The signatures range from "5" to "8," averaging "6/7." While we can only guess at the circumstances of this ball's signing, it may have been obtained at a spring training game between the Yankees and Cubs. There is an area of light abrasion affecting the entire Teachout signature and a portion of the Smith signature. The ball has also been coated with a light layer of protective shellac. In Very Good to Excellent condition. LOA from James Spence/JSA
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Really difficult to come up with a value due to the overlapping of the two best autographs on the ball on the sweet spot.

Best way of determining value is to run it in a major auction. I would guess $3-5K but to the right collector maybe more.

Ruth balls have definitely jumped in value over the last few years.

While the pairing with the Cubs is definitely unusual and somewhat niche, I wonder whether for a Cubs fan, that would be an interesting piece.

A Ruth auto on the sweet spot with a 8 auto is pretty cool even with the overlap with Hornsby (which definitely detracts but the Ruth is still very legible. The auto's of Hornsby and Wilson would really add value to most balls, but on this I think it is a bit of a wash given the unusual pairing.

Looking at recent sales, my estimate is that it could sell in the $5K-$7K range at auction.




https://www.ebay.com/itm/14531236680...Bk9SR46ahoHbYg

https://www.ebay.com/itm/29594395733...Bk9SR46ahoHbYg

https://www.ebay.com/itm/29594395733...Bk9SR46ahoHbYg

Not sure how to gauge the Cubs autos either. Wilson and Hornsby are cool but the draw is naturally Ruth.

I paid $5,000 all in for this Ruth / Gehrig ball in the last Memory Lane auction. Not sure how that informs the price of your ball, but there are some similarities. Ruth is on the sweet spot along with a couple of lesser HOFers (Rabbit Maranville and Pie Traynor are also on here with some other non-stars):

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...4cea90a0_w.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...5c38ddd5_w.jpg

^^^^ Packs, is yours traced over??

I personally think you got a great deal. I know Ruth balls are not that rare but Ruth on cuts seem to go for $3000 + and a ball is much desired. Considering how much he goes for on many other medium I was hoping it would be worth 10,000 but I guess I'm unrealistic.

I think 3-5K net sounds roughly correct. You might be able to squeeze more out of it through a major auction house like Heritage but sellers fees will eat all of that up.

It's a beautiful ball, if I had the money I'd be a buyer.

That was an absolute steal in my book.

My immediate thought as well upon seeing it in the pickups thread. For some reason, I didn't feel like raining on the parade by bringing it up.

No it isn’t traced. It comes with a full LOA with no mention of tracing nor did the auction description mention tracing. I bought this from Memory Lane.

https://memorylaneinc.com/site/bids/...e?itemid=79482

I don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade as well, but I’d be willing to bet a large amount of money that it is traced. There are numerous problems with that ball. I’m sorry brother.

I'll reach out to Memory Lane then. See what they say.

Just talked to them. They'll be contacting Steve Grad to either reconfirm the LOA or confirm a mistake was made. I guess I'll have an update sometime in the next few days.

Having the ball in hand I don't see anything to suggest a trace. But I do appreciate you raising the concern because I'd rather ask the question now.

Update: Steve Grad reconfirmed the LOA and opinion that the ball does not have any traced signatures on it. If you'd like to PM me you can because I don't want to derail this thread. Again, I appreciate the concern.