[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Ken,

I agree with what Paul says, but would like to add that value of 3X5 vs. a document has to be weighed using the determinig factors of which player has signed and the uniqueness/historical value of the document.

Some players are common in document form but much rarer on a 3X5. While the valuations aren't at all staggering, the first player that comes to mind for me is Roy Hutson. His family was sitting on thousands of checks and they were sold many years ago. Even though he died way back in '57, these checks have minimal value due to their abundance. Conversely, try finding a 3X5! That would command more value to all the 3X5 collectors for whom a check would be nothing more than a filler. If you want some HOF examples, think of Barrow and Eddie Collins. For Barrow especially, there are enough checks and documents to encircle the world. 3X5s are much tougher. He was a gracious signer, but it proves that not too many fans had the foresight to write him. I personally feel that 3X5s of those two should command much more of a premium than they do. To an extent, Branch Rickey is another example. More people wrote to Rickey, seemingly, but we see a lot more signed documentation in the marketplace vs. nice 3X5s.

With Neighbors, a 3X5 would be considered extra special due to the fact that he signed very few of them. If there are more than a couple out there, they likely have yet to be discovered. He is more easily found on cuts/album pages. Your Wingler form is certainly more appealing to me than that album page that sold, but I'm a sucker for Wingler and extra writing (which you never see with Neighbors). Other collectors share my passion for these things, so in my estimation, your document should at least be on par with that A/P when it comes to value. Other collectors are more prone to collect things only up to a certain size, so for them, this would qualify as oversized and be of less interest. To people like ourselves, there is historical value to any Wingler form. To outsiders, it's a pretty dry piece. They wouldn't understand. Some collectors may only see extra value in, say, a letter Neighbors sent home from Korea (nonexistent as far as I'm aware).

Also, the price that the Neighbors A/P fetched is assuredly another one without a foothold in reality. I was shocked.

I would rank Neighbors the easiest to procure of the MLB alumni who perished in WWII and Korea, but naturally all are difficult. Of the trio, Neighbors had the "longest" career at a whopping 7 games! It would also be of little-known interest to some is that he was half Cherokee.