[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Actually, my statement would still hold relevance even if the book had never been published. For instance, there are far more Hugh Bedients out there (1910's BoSox, died the same year as Austin). That baffles me. I could compose a list of similar instances which would do nothing except leave us to scratch our heads in puzzlement as to why somebody like Austin was virtually ignored by collectors.

Many decades ago, The Sporting News used to run a "Where are they Now?" column featuring the current status of the players of yesterday. In those friendlier, simpler times, TSN apparently did not think it unwise to be listing the players' home addresses at the bottom of each column! Consequently, these men were sent many autograph requests. I beleive Austin was featured in one of these columns, so it makes me wonder why more 3X5s and GPCs aren't out there. There is a core group of about 25-50 non-HOFers who all passed away in the 1950's-60's whose autographs turn up with much more frequency than the majority of their contemporaries. It's those TSN articles that we have to thank for the extra autographs of guys like Jack Warhop, Ed Abbaticcio, Howie Camnitz, Sox Seibold, Vean Gregg, etc.

I think there are fewer Gibsons because he lived up here in Ontario. Therefore, he was out of reach to many (although he would courteously reply to autograph seekers). To add to your thoughts, keep in mind that Gibson's chapter in TGOTT actually didn't make the first cut; his section was added in much later printings (I think the revamped edition published in 1984 was his first appearance).

Strangely, Sad Sam Jones died only a year after the book's publication, yet collectors wrote *him* throughout his life. For somebody who died 43 years ago, his is a very common autograph. Both Jones and Austin had very respectable, storied careers. Why, then, was one flooded with fan mail and the other all but forgotten?