Louis f sockalexis autographed ball

[jmcd]

I have a ball that is signed by Louis F Sockalexis. It was given to me 42 years ago by an old neighbor. He knew that I collected baseball cards and memorabilia and he had it in a box in his garage. He said that his father gave it to him. I know that his family lived in the Chicago area but I don't know much more than that.
I had one person who authenticates autographs look at the ball and he told me that the ball is from the correct era and that he believes that it is authentic, but he said that it would be very difficult to actually authenticate the signature. The ball was coated with shellacque at some point after being autographed.
I'm just asking for opinions or any information on the steps to take to possibly authenticate this. If it's real, it should be in a museum, and not locked away. Thank you!!

[JoeDfan]

Wow. If that is legit, that is unbelievably cool.
I am not aware of any signatures in the hobby.

However, I believe I know where there are exemplars. While they will not sell them, they might be willing to look at your signature, and compare it to their own to verify it ( I doubt they will let you or anyone look at theirs).


Perhaps someone on here has some more information?

[jmcd]

Thank you for your reply. I might try to get hold of someone at Holy Cross. That's a great idea.

[JoeDfan]

What does the rest of the ball say?

[jmcd]

It's actually signed twice. One side says "Compliments Louis Sockalexis" but there's a smear in the ink. The side that you can see in the pictures says "Compliments From Louis F Sockalexis". Almost as if when he signed the ball the first time, a finger or something smudged the signature, so he signed it again.

[prewarsports]

I have studied Sockalexis and researched him probably more than anyone in the hobby. I have tracked down the only couple of known signatures in various archives (none in public hands). Without having the ball in person I would say there is a pretty close to 0 percent chance that ball was signed by Sockalexis. A couple things to note.

First; after 1897 he was embarrassed and ashamed, essentially hiding out from the world and in poor health. He played on some local teams, but was FAR from a celebrity. Any autograph of Sockalexis would have been obtained prior to that time. I do not believe that ball dates to that time period.

Second; people assume he was similar to early minority players of the era that Sockalexis was uneducated (such as the crude print of the ball) but in reality he attended school all the way through high school and then spent several years (not just a token cup of coffee) at two of the leading colleges in America and did quite well. His handwriting was ornate and beautiful and his proficiency with a pen would have exceeding the average baseball player of the era by a considerable margin.

Third; single signed baseballs essentially do not exist before the 1910's. There are perhaps a few dozen total of all baseball players on this medium from that time period, all of which were stars at the time the ball was signed. The odds of a reclusive alcoholic in Maine who was considered a joke essentially at the time period would have been asked for his autograph on a ball is basically zero.

The only known autographs of Sockalexis are in a church in Maine where he witnessed some services and signed on behalf of the priest, and a single signed cabinet photograph in the archives of Notre Dame, both of which were signed with beautiful penmanship. I believe the best you could hope for would be that he gave an unsigned ball to someone and they penned the inscription as a rememberance. There would be no way to prove a chain like that.

I am not knocking the item, I am sure there is a story there and some history and maybe he really did touch the ball at one time and gave it someone (not likely but possible I suppose), but the odds of it being an autograph of Sockalexis are basically zero.