Quote:
Originally Posted by JBirkholm
Nobody would care about Graham if not for the movie. Kinsella could have picked another great baseball name, such as Icehouse Wilson from the 1934 Tigers, and revolved the plot around him, thereby etching a different obscure player's name into the memory banks of modern-day fans. It bothers me how much Graham's memorabilia fetches just because an author plucked him out of the 15,000+ players who have made the big time. Yes, the real Archie Graham was a doctor who lived in Chisholm, MN and had a wife name Alicia. For all we know, she really could have favored blue hats. As someone who thinks every player's biography is equally important to preserve, the hype has always bothered me. After all, people don't collect Babe Ruth material because they're huge William Bendix or John Goodman fans; why collect Moonlight memorabilia because you`re enamored with either Kinsella`s book or Burt Lancaster`s preformance? Oddly, Eddie Waitkus memorabilia never really skyrocketed because his case was the basis for The Natural.
(Yes, we`ve debated this one before. I realize all of the Moonlight devotees have passionate reasons for craving this sort of material, but I`ll never understand why!)
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But do you really think that anyone would care about Bob Uecker cards if he was not sitting in the "front row". Sometimes; for whatever reasons; people become much better known after their playing careers so if Archibald is getting more famous 100 years after his major league playing career -- that is OK by me. Fame is a weird thing and people who are famous one day (Eddie Fisher; once involved in the most torrid affair in Hollywood, can turn 81 years old this week and is now just a blip in people's memories)
Rich