Need help to ID this 1942 baseball autograph!

[muggsy]

Originally Posted by witster

I'm going with Eppa Rixley

Rixey would be a fantastic autograph, and it could be a match. But Rixey retired in 1933, what was he doing in 1942? I can't find any record of him coaching at the time. Was he hanging around CIN Spring Training? It IS possible. I guess that is next for me to find out.
I don't know how complete this would be for the era, but http://www.thebaseballcube.com/people_places/coaches/#R does not list Rixey as being a coach.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

What's a Rixley?

The closest thing it could possibly resemble is an incredibly rushed, last-name only Jerry Priddy. This appears to be a National League autograph book, however, and Priddy was a Yankee that season.

[muggsy]

Originally Posted by BillyCox3

What's a Rixley?

The closest thing it could possibly resemble is an incredibly rushed, last-name only Jerry Priddy. This appears to be a National League autograph book, however, and Priddy was a Yankee that season.

Yeah it would be an NL team only. Rixey would be odd because it would be nearly 10 years after he retired and I don't think he had been coaching. Was he a spectator signing a few? I guess that's the hardest to figure out. It does have some similarity to his other signatures.

I agree it would make a lot more sense to be someone active.

[Steve D]

It doesn't match any Eppa Rixey signatures I've seen.

I have found a Benjamin Rixey, who played in the St Louis Cardinals organization (class-D minor leagues) in 1939 and 1941. He then showed up in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization in 1947.

I've found one signed document of his on Ancestry.com, but am inconclusive on it being a match.

Steve

[muggsy]

Originally Posted by Steve D

It doesn't match any Eppa Rixey signatures I've seen.

I have found a Benjamin Rixey, who played in the St Louis Cardinals organization (class-D minor leagues) in 1939 and 1941. He then showed up in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization in 1947.

I've found one signed document of his on Ancestry.com, but am inconclusive on it being a match.

Steve

If it's Benjamin Rixey, it might be the only one in existence. I wonder if he has a sentimental fan.

[muggsy]

I thought/think it has to be -ixly, -ixley, -uxly, -uxley or maybe it's not an x, it's a y or j or ?

As for Priddy, I just can't see it. What's the big slash?

That's how I feel. But I'm not someone who IDs these, and you might be.

[Steve D]

Originally Posted by muggsy

It has to be -ixly, -ixley, -uxly, -uxley, right?

To me, it's either ixly or ixley. Just don't know if the first letter is a P or an R. The little crescent thingy in the first letter's loop, to me, is the dot over the i.


Steve

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Not Rixey, whose signature was far too methodical in its construction. I have only seen one rushed authentic Rixey signature in 30+ years, and it doesn't even come close to this.

Does this book originate from a city that had franchises in both leagues, such as NYC, St. Louis, Chicago or Philly? If so, finding an American Leaguer in a book with NL autographs is not unimaginable. I've owned dozens of these books, most of which originated from two-team towns, and it's more common than not to find an American Leaguer or two in a book containing mostly NL teams, or vice-versa. If so, that would explain it.

The "P", and especially the finishing formation of it, is very reminiscent of Priddy (although I can't confirm it 100%--too sloppy and I haven't encountered such a rushed example of Priddy before).

[muggsy]

I'm pretty certain it's from Spring Training 1942 in the Florida facilities around that Tampa/Clearwater area. It is likely from one of STL, CHC, CIN, PIT, PHI, NYG, BSN because that is where every other signature is from. However, this signature is on a random page in the book, so I can't guess a team by the signatures around it.

It looks like the Yankees could have been still using Waterfront Park, in St. Petersburg, at the time, though. That would place him right there.

Why he'd get 1 random AL autograph, and it's from the Yankees, and it's a... Priddy. But that's irrelevant.

[Steve D]

There was also a pitcher named Gordon Pixley, who played in the minor leagues (Philadelphia Phillies organization). In 1941, he played in Allentown PA.


Steve