Interesting Lefty Grove autograph
 

This popped up on eBay and caught my eye. I liked the fact that it was more than just a signed postcard, but it actually contained a letter to Lefty that a kid sent him in 1948. I looked at the back and the name rang a bell. It turns out this postcard was sent from an 11 year old Robert Sklar in 1948. Robert would grow up to become a film historian, and a history professor at the University of Michigan. While there, he was introduced to Bill Gamson's Baseball Seminar League. Robert was also the faculty advisor to one Daniel Okrent, and he introduced him to the concept as well. Dan wound up creating the Rotisserie League Baseball, and Robert was one of the original 11 owners. This of course was the predecessor to today's fantasy sports leagues. I remember borrowing the Rotisserie League Baseball book from the library as a kid and setting up a league with some friends. Many of you probably do as well. We didn't get very far once we realized how much effort was involved in keeping up with the stats. Anyway I thought this was a cool piece of baseball history and wanted to share it!

https://www.heavy45s.com/Screenshot_...py_800x459.jpg
https://www.heavy45s.com/Screenshot_...py_800x491.jpg
https://www.heavy45s.com/League-of-h...ue-dugout.jpeg
https://www.heavy45s.com/4e810786-a8...b7_546x411.jpg
https://a3.espncdn.com/combiner/i?im...4baseball2.jpg
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/...9L._SL500_.jpg

I'm always skeptical. Sklar, while it sounds unusual, is a fairly common last name and Roberts are a dime a dozen. Wikipedia has your Robert Sklar born in New Brunswick, NJ and I thought "Welp the jig is up" but kept reading and his family moved to Long Beach when he was 9 so I think it's pretty close to 100% that it is indeed a postcard from film historian Robert Sklar. Very cool!

I went through the same thought process as you!

Yes, that's him. A bunch of these were sold as part of a Leland's auction this summer. The Grove was one of them.

https://auction.lelands.com/bids/bidplace?itemid=116391

It looks like they're now being flipped on eBay.

Ah thanks! I wondered if this was part of a Sklar collection but couldn't find anything.