August Autograph Pickups

[Scott Garner]

I just picked up a neat multi-signed ball featuring 11 vintage no-hit pitchers (8 are deceased). The pitchers that signed are:

Rex Barney (SS)- D
Johnny "Double No-Hit" Vander Meer (D)- 2 no-hitters
Ewell "The Whip" Blackwell (D)
Bob "Rapid Robert" Feller (HOF-D)- 3 no-hitters
Warren Spahn (HOF)- 2 no-hitters
John "The Count" Montefusco
Allie "Super Chief" Reynolds (D)- 2 no-hitters
Gaylord Perry (HOF)
Jim Maloney- 2 no-hitters plus an "unofficial" no-hitter
Mel Parnell (D)
Bob Lemon (HOF-D)

Cost of the ball including shipping = less than $77! Such a deal!
The sigs are all dark and crisp now that I have it in hand....

[dgo71]

Originally Posted by Scott Garner

Rex Barney (SS)- D

I cannot think of Rex without hearing him announcing O's games at old Memorial Stadium. I always loved his tagline "Give that fan a contract!" when someone made a nice grab of a foul ball. When the O's were especially awful in the late 80s my friend and I would joke that it couldn't hurt to let the fan at least try out.

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by dgo71

I cannot think of Rex without hearing him announcing O's games at old Memorial Stadium. I always loved his tagline "Give that fan a contract!" when someone made a nice grab of a foul ball. When the O's were especially awful in the late 80s my friend and I would joke that it couldn't hurt to let the fan at least try out.

You couldd'a been a contenda!

Very true, that 1988 season was brutal for the O's... I forget how many games that they lost in a row, but it was amazing. I was on a business trip to Las Vegas and I remember thinking every day that maybe I should place a bet for them to win, but every dy they continued to lose. Some teams are just plain BAD!

BTW, I never heard Rex Barney behind the mike that I recall, but I understand he was a solid broadcaster. He was considered to be quite a fireballing prospect when he first came up to the majors, but he, like many fastball pitchers, lacked the control to be successful. He did capture lightning in a bottle on September 9, 1948 when he hurled a no-hitter against the NY Giants, prevailing 2-0. Here are two ticket stubs to Barney's 1948 no-hitter from my personal collection.

[mschwade]

So this is a ticket stub from last night's game that I got signed by Columbus Clippers shortstop Francisco Lindor. Lindor, was the 8th selection in the 2011 draft, and won't turn 21 until November 24th.

Why I wanted to post this... Two things...

Unprepared for this
Lindor was the only one signing and he was working his way to the dugout of about 10 fans after warming up minutes before first pitch. He got to me, maybe the 4th person and I had an index card. He looked at me and said "I can't sign that, I can't sign on white." I've heard of some agents advising their clients/athletes not to sign index cards because of the risk of fraud (I previously wrote about that here).

While I know it's not his fault, he's been advised by his agent so he's listening to what he's told, I was caught off guard and a little unprepared as I had nothing else for him to sign at the moment. Luckily our seats were in the second row so I didn't have far to run, but I had to think quick what else I had.

Making it right
I picked up my sons hat off his head. Nope navy blue, even under the bill was navy blue, that won't work. Light bulb goes off. Ticket Stub! "You have our ticket stubs?" I asked my wife and mom. My mom hands me a ticket. Lindor was somewhat paying attention to me and with him finishing up the 10th person, he came back to me and signed my ticket stub for me (above).

So while I was a little bit flustered he wouldn't sign my index card for me, I wanted to give him props for coming back and making sure he signed an item that I found that he could sign (per his agent).

Glad to add his signature because I think he's the Indians shortstop next opening day and I expect him to get called up on September 1st.

Later in the game with the Mud Hens threatening, Lindor made a hell of a play in the field to end the inning and my son got thrown the ball so that was pretty cool as well.

Here's a recent article on Francisco Lindor from MLB.com: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article/cle/...&vkey=news_cle

[Scott Garner]

Neat story, Matt! Thanks for sharing.

BTW, I noticed that all-time IL HR leader Mike Hessman (Mud Hens) went yard again in last night's game (26th HR this season even with trips to the DL).

[theshleps]

Starting a few years back some players won't sign index cards. That is why people bring custom generic cards with light backgrounds of colors and baseball scenes and some won't even sign those

[Klrdds]

Four additions to my collection this month:
1. A full name check of Monford (Monte) Irvin
2. A TLS with a full name signature of Osborne (Ozzie) Smith on his company's letterhead. I have never seen a letter let alone a full name signature before for him, so I had to pick this up.
3. A TLS of Hank Greenberg on Indians letterhead, Not too hard to find, but one had been on my list for a while.
4. A HNS of Ed Barrow. Again not hard to find, but a nice addition to go along with my Barrow TLS on Yankees letterhead. Interestingly, I remember when this item was last auctioned and I was the under- bidder. Everything always comes around again eventually it seems like in this hobby.

[Mr. Zipper]

Originally Posted by theshleps

Starting a few years back some players won't sign index cards. That is why people bring custom generic cards with light backgrounds of colors and baseball scenes and some won't even sign those

So absurd. What color do they think a ball is? It would be just as easy to photoshop a signature off a white ball as an index card. Or anyone even slightly skilled in Photoshop can easily remove a background. WHat do they think is going to happen? Someone photoshopping signatures onto checks? Are there any cases of this actually happening?