Vic Harris, John Donaldson
 

With these 2 men on the eras committee ballot I am wondering how many autographs of them (Donaldson and Harris) exist? They both died in the 1970s but are there many signatures out there?
On the others it seems like they keep recycling the same names (Allen, Boyer, Garvey, Parker, John, Tiant) how many times do they have to be rejected between the regular 15 years of voting and the veterans committee before they should just give up and when guys like Hodges make it after being rejected close to 20x what does that suggest? Do they finally get the right committee members? What makes them qualify now when they didn't so many times previously?

Apparently, what makes them qualify is nothing but the stubborn insistence of whoever is responsible for posting the same snooze fest of undeserving names when there are so many more deserving.

I think both make it this year, and I'd wager their signatures are super scarce and will be crazy expensive

Have you looked at their contributions? Or just speaking from ignorance? Harris has highest win percentage as manager in history and Donaldson threw 14 No Hitters (Twice that of Nolan Ryan)

I would think both Harris and Donaldson are exceptionally rare, even though Donaldson was quite popular with the public.

To your point on the names on the ballot, I couldn't agree more. The committee is considering over 100 years of baseball history and has to whittle that immense list of players down to only 8 names. I find it hard to believe there was nobody during that span of time that deserves consideration before voting on Garvey, Boyer, Tiant, etc. for the 5th or 6th time. At this point it's pretty clear they just want these guys in, much like Hodges as you mentioned. If that's the case, just have a "special election" or something and put them all in, or drop them from consideration altogether. It's long past time that a host of other names make the ballot so they can at least be considered.

ok well just had 2 nice sales on my khwtwo site , cheaper uncerted commons site.....same guy bought a 1968 topps john donaldson oakland a`s and a 1973 topps rangers vic harris 25.00 out the door shipped

Gotta love people who don't do a tiny bit of homework.

The 1968 Donaldson and 1973 Harris are not the ones nominated for the Hall of Fame.

oh wow are you serious

I know of 2 good Donaldson autographs in public hands, I think because he didn't play in the Negro Leagues, you don't see him on any team signed items like you to with Vic Harris, which is rare, but not a rare as Donaldson.

I have seen one nice autograph of Donaldson and another with his name and address written on a return envelope that likely would not be authenticated but was real as it was postmarked etc. that was on ebay a few years ago. I have seen a few more of Harris but probably less than five.

I think it will be a tough ballot to get in on. I think that Allen and Tiant are both well-deserving candidates. Tommy John is interesting when you combine his career numbers with the significance of the surgery that was named for him. Garvey does not meet the standards I would apply based on advanced metrics, but if you believe that the HOF should be the players who were huge stars in their era, he has that.

I think Harris should be a no-brainer. I have a hard time telling whether Donaldson was really deserving (as compared to others from the era) or if he is a product of a huge research push. The stats on Donaldson often don't provide insight into the caliber of opponent (from what I have seen) which makes it tough to tell how to view him. (I say this with no disrespect, and I believe that there are quite a few Negro League players who deserve to be in, including Dick Redding, Alex Radcliff, Dave Malarcher and some others.

I know it's not a memorabilia thread, and apologize in advance, though the discussion on Donaldson made me think of this. Spelling isn't correct but love the piece.

That's really cool! Definitely no apology needed!

Any pictures of a Vac Harris autograph? Or is that guarded? Would love to see one....

I had 2 Vic Harris autographs in my collection. One was an album page from the Bill Yancey collection which I purchased from Ron Oser auctions , and the other was a 3 x 5 purchased from Kevin Keating . Both were purchased in the mid to late 1990s and sold when I liguidated some items several years ago.
Unfortunately, you can’t win them all , but thankfully I still have my John Donaldson autograph.

Sorry for the photo . This is from my iPad . I’ll correct the photo tomorrow unless someone beats me to it .

Correction

I knew Kevin had a Donaldson, but didn't want to out him. Here is my Vic Harris endorsed John Holway check.

Frank that's a nice Harris . The first I've seen of "something " official. Most of the ones seem to be 3x5s or signed team sheets.
Keep up the good work and getting great items .

Thanks!