Quote:
Originally Posted by Scott Garner
Scott,
I understand your sentiment, but a possible Joe Medwick foul ball is a far cry from a game used ball from Nap Ruckers no-hitter game in terms of importance and certainly value.
You know that I collect items related to no-hitters. Just curious, why the specific interest in Nap Rucker? Good choice, BTW...
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True Scott, but my hesitation to purchase anything like this has nothing to do with malicious intent on the part of the seller. It's just that accidents occur as the years go by. Less chance of it if the writing is obviously the same age as the event, but there can still be confusion on the part of the original owner that leads to mistakes. For example, I was with a friend of mine at a game, and between us we caught 4-5 batting practice balls. I know who hit the one I caught (Darryl Porter), but we put them in a common area, and when my buddy gave me the ball, I wasn't absolutely sure he gave me the right one. Rucker's no-hitter ball could have gotten mixed up with some others, or he might have set it somewhere and it rolled off the table and ended up picked up by his wife and put in the wrong spot. Who knows?
I always had a sentimental side for players like Rucker and Reulbach who were viewed as 'great' by their contemporaries, but who were ignored by the more knowledgeable sportswriters and fans who succeeded them. Reulbach was basically run out of the majors because of the Federal League, so he missed the 10-year prerequisite to get in the HOF. Rucker pitched for some sorry-assed Dodgers teams and was the ace of the staff, thus he was matched up whenever possible against the best that the other teams had. Plus, he was from Alpharetta, Georgia, where I used to live. He was a great guy and hard not to like. I still collect his stuff, but I don't have too much.