An interesting NY Times article about baseball autographs

[Hot Springs Bathers]

Alex- You are probably right, I am proud that my college senior daughter takes so much pride in her penmanship!

[Michael B]

Oh for the days of the Reinhart Method. Yes, I am dating myself. It is such a pleasure to look at beautiful and legible signatures. I like to call them 'Catholic School' signatures a la Babe Ruth. I thought I would share a few signatures that show you that age does not prevent people having a good signature.

1. Gertrude Ederle - one of my favorite signatures. Best known as the first female to successfully swim the English Channel, she is also an Olympic gold medalist. Signed in her late 60's early 70's.

2. Walter Walsh - The oldest living Olympian ever. As of this posting he is 106 years 333 days old. Lets give him a big happy 107th on May 4th. A reknowned FBI agent he was involved in tracking many of the early gansters including Baby Face Nelson. When the FBI celebrated its 100th annivesary, he was 101. This was signed when he was well over 100 years old.

[djson1]

Great bit of knowledge dropping, Michael B. I never knew about Walsh. I just googled him and found out he was an Olympic shooting instructor at the age of 92..without the aid of eyeglasses!

[1880nonsports]

great share - thanks!

[Michael B]

Originally Posted by djson1

Great bit of knowledge dropping, Michael B. I never knew about Walsh. I just googled him and found out he was an Olympic shooting instructor at the age of 92..without the aid of eyeglasses!

And also '1880nonsports'

I am glad I could share. I don't collect baseball or basketball anymore, but I do remember some very interesting signatures I got in person in the 1980's and early 1990's - Don Hood and Mike Fischlin, David Justice in the minor leagues come to mind. I also got lots of Hall of Famers in person - Killibrew, F & B. Robinson, E Murray, Lefty Gomez, Ted W, Joe D., Spahn, Musial, Rice, Yaz, Fisk, Joe Cronin, Mantle, Aaron, Reggie, J Morgan, Bench, Fingers etc. and almost all for free. I enjoy seeing the pickups on this site. Always fun to see those signatures. Since my collecting/selling is now Olympics and I have a large database of signature scans (3500 scans another 3000 or so to scan) I like to share with everyone here. I find that while you may love the collecting in one area, a true collector really appreciates other collections.

Jason - I am not sure if you noticed, but Walsh also enlisted in the Marines in WWII and rose to the rank of Lt-Col. After the war he commanded the Marine Sharpshooters unit. He must have been one tough SOB. He lives a stones throw from me in Arlington, VA. Would love to meet him, but don't see it happening.

[djson1]

Originally Posted by Michael B

And also '1880nonsports'

Jason - I am not sure if you noticed, but Walsh also enlisted in the Marines in WWII and rose to the rank of Lt-Col. After the war he commanded the Marine Sharpshooters unit. He must have been one tough SOB. He lives a stones throw from me in Arlington, VA. Would love to meet him, but don't see it happening.

Yeah, I did read his whole wiki-bio. He definitely was bad-ass. He also fought in the Pacific during WWII...Okinawa...which was one hellhole of a fight.