Toughest 1940's & 1950's Baseball Autographs

[JimStinson]

Also using BOXING as an example I was the guy that did over 200 private signings with boxing champions and impossible to find non-baseball autographs including the legendary (and now deceased) middleweight champ CARLOS MONZON in Argentina , JOHN TATE (when he was in prison), TREVOR BERBICK (shortly before his head was split open with a machette), OSCAR DE LA HOYA (Right after the Gold Medal in Barcelona), etc etc and the response was luke warm at best.

[travrosty]

Originally Posted by JimStinson

Also using BOXING as an example I was the guy that did over 200 private signings with boxing champions and impossible to find non-baseball autographs including the legendary (and now deceased) middleweight champ CARLOS MONZON in Argentina , JOHN TATE (when he was in prison), TREVOR BERBICK (shortly before his head was split open with a machette), OSCAR DE LA HOYA (Right after the Gold Medal in Barcelona), etc etc and the response was luke warm at best.

Exactly, i collect boxing and other than collecting all of the opponents of muhammad ali, there isnt much of demand to collect all boxers who fought joe louis, frazier etc. (Even though i collected all the championship opponents of Louis and got many of them from you.)

I think i have the only manuel ramos autograph around but he fought frazier for the title and not Muhammad Ali, so it is almost worthless even though he was mexican heavyweight champion and the only mexican national to fight for the heavyweight crown. Had he fought Muhammad Ali it would be worth a lot. Had he been a baseball player it would be a brick of gold.

I just never hear of people looking for an autograph of someone of little note other than playing in the league who played three games for the boston celtics back in 1948. but baseball has its allure I guess.

[JimStinson]

Yes you are correct , other fields of collecting trend toward specific areas of collecting, With boxing its tipically the heavyweight champs, or guys who fought Ali. Or Louis but here is the KINK , there might be only 2 or 3 guys that collect in that arena so ....even though the autograph is SUPER tough , even tougher than some of the "cup of coffee baseball players" there does not exist a "market" and market determines value ....at the MOMENT , which changes always

[travrosty]

Originally Posted by JimStinson

Yes you are correct , other fields of collecting trend toward specific areas of collecting, With boxing its tipically the heavyweight champs, or guys who fought Ali. Or Louis but here is the KINK , there might be only 2 or 3 guys that collect in that arena so ....even though the autograph is SUPER tough , even tougher than some of the "cup of coffee baseball players" there does not exist a "market" and market determines value ....at the MOMENT , which changes always

you are right, there is only a few, only 6 i know that collect ali opponents, and they have most of them on the list now. so no real market, you have to know someone who knows the guys who might have one and the price is whatever the two people agree upon. I get inquiries sometimes about how much this tough ali opponent autograph is worth and many times I say "I don't know" they don't trade hands enough to put a concrete price on it.

Ali opponents herb siler, sonny banks, tony esperti, and alejandro lavorante are the toughest outside of jim robinson, where no known autographs exist.

there are 50 opponents and someone has 49, so he's done, a few have in the 40's.

[Bored5000]

Originally Posted by travrosty

Exactly, i collect boxing and other than collecting all of the opponents of muhammad ali, there isnt much of demand to collect all boxers who fought joe louis, frazier etc. (Even though i collected all the championship opponents of Louis and got many of them from you.)

I think i have the only manuel ramos autograph around but he fought frazier for the title and not Muhammad Ali, so it is almost worthless even though he was mexican heavyweight champion and the only mexican national to fight for the heavyweight crown. Had he fought Muhammad Ali it would be worth a lot. Had he been a baseball player it would be a brick of gold.

I just never hear of people looking for an autograph of someone of little note other than playing in the league who played three games for the boston celtics back in 1948. but baseball has its allure I guess.

I have read a couple different articles about collectors trying to collect all the Ali opponents. Is a Jim Robinson autograph still considered to be non-existant?

I have also read in the past about a collector trying to collect every man who ever fought for the heavyweight title, so I was familiar with how tough Ramos is. I saw a Ramos autograph on eBay a few months ago. Obviously, eBay is loaded with fakes and frauds. But Ramos seems like he would be a pretty obscure guy to fake. I don't even think it ever sold. From what I remember, the seller claimed it came from Ramos' military discharge papers. I thought that was kinda weird, beause isn't that where the one known legit Ramos autograph originated from?

I know baseball will always be king as far as autograph values go, but it always amazes me how cheap boxing autographs from the early 20th century are for everyone other than the heavyweight champions.

Who were the toughest Louis opponents to collect?