What baseball autographs could be considered uncommon

[Lordstan]

Wait,
I take back the part about Jackie Robinson.
There are currently 78 Jackie Robinson autographed items on ebay. Most are certed by someone. Not exactly uncommon!
There are 40 pre stroke Campanella items. More uncommon than Robinson!

[HexsHeroes]

.


. . . but I'll go ahead and venture the name Nellie Fox for marginal consideraton. Major league playing career started in late 1940's, died in mid-1970's.

[travrosty]

if the player died before the mid 80's, their signature will be a lot less common than if they lived later than that, because their participation in the autograph show boom would be more limited.

maris just missed out, only doing 1 or 2 shows or private signings. so obviously robinson, clemente, even greenberg, less autographs than if they would have lived to late 80's when it really took off like gangbusters.

[packs]

Not going to find too many Grover Cleveland Alexanders around. Even less with him on the sweetspot.

[HOF Auto Rookies]

Originally Posted by packs

Not going to find too many Grover Cleveland Alexanders around. Even less with him on the sweetspot.

WOW!!! Is that yours Frank? If so, what's the story behind it

[mr2686]

I'll add Red Faber. He died in 1976 but was in bad health since the mid to late 60's so his wife signed almost all of his stuff during that time. At any given time, you can find about 13 Fabers on Ebay and most times it breaks down to about 4 Fabers and 9 of his wife's. Right now is a rare time as I just looked and saw about 9 actual Fabers and about 2 of his wife. I've actually seen one "major" dealer and one of TPA's authenticate his wife sig, and that's really funny since the TPA wrote a really great article on what to look for on both Faber's and his wife's sig.

[packs]

Hey Brent. I bought the Alexander ball from an old woman on eBay. There was no photo on her auction and the buy it now was $80. The ball was advertised as being signed by a GL Alexander. I figured I'd take a chance. What a chance to take!

The story she gave me is that she attended a House of David game in Colorado in the early 1930s. While she was there with her father she got a few players signatures. Alexander is on the sweetspot and on a side panel is Babe Didrickson Zaharias, who I believe played with the team only briefly.

The ball is 80 something years old and has had exactly 2 owners. It is in incredible condition.

[MacDice]

I have an unsigned baseball card of Bob Feller which is considered to be pretty uncommon.

[Lordstan]

All good points.
I think Nellie fox is probably the best example of the rarity trifecta.
1) Dies young
2) Dies prior to autograph show boom.
3) Inducted to HOF way after death.

Despite all that there are still 70 Fox's listed on ebay as I write this. I think the ebay effect really has changed our perspective on who is a difficult autograph and who isn't. Greenberg, even with him dying before the show boom, still has 170 current ebay autograph listings.

That is a great Alexander Ball. Congrats.