Baseball Hall-Of_Fame Autographs

[bender07]

Originally Posted by ocjack

I spent the better part of 15 years taking two of these art posters from show to show. I was able to obtain 50 Hall of Famers on one display piece. (Well, 49 really because I had Pete Rose sign the bat - and I assumed he'd eventually make the HOF). Excuse the glare on either side of the poster from the holder I have it in. I was fortunate to obtain many signatures of now deceased players, including Mantle, DiMaggio and Williams. Every signature was obtained in-person.

That's awesome. Who was the last one you added? Plans for more?

[ocjack]

Thanks guys. It was troublesome carrying two posters from show to show, but I think the results were well worth it. Berra was the last autograph on one poster and Schmidt was the last on the second poster.

And no plans to continue although I still have about 6 posters without signatures ( I originally purchased 12 from the art gallery and sold a couple when I was set up at shows).

[skyrunner]

Wow OCJack. That poster looks great. I can only imagine all the work you went through. I am trying to put some ideas together now on how I will approach this major project.

[ocjack]

Thanks skyrunner. The most daunting part was trying to get the player to sign the baseball I requested. For example, DiMaggio was upset because he had to stand up to be able to reach the spot I wanted him to sign. After he signed, he told the person next to him that was collecting the tickets "I'm not signing anymore of these posters."

[skyrunner]

Man OCJack, these guys can be jerks at times. I think that they would glad to sign something and sign it where you want them to sign. Maybe his legs where hurting.

[Klrdds]

Unfortunately Joe DiMaggio did that more than one time at shows. He had a running fued with a photo dealer named Joe LiCata over signing some of the photos he sold, and they were beautiful photos also. All of them were 16x20 with a few 11x14 poses. All in black and white. I was at the show in 1989 when it started and it lasted for several years until Joe D died. However he signed a few for me and a buddy at a show a few years later because we had so many items for him to sign he just signed our stuff without paying much attention and we covered the majority of the photos with other photos to avoid him seeing the whole photo. Joe had a tremendous memory for knowing what he would and would not sign , as well as what his contract for a show stipulated.
Also an incident when he stopped adding Yankee Clipper inscriptions to his stuff in the middle of a 2 day show. This refusal lasted for a little while because his "damn" name was Joe Di Maggio not the Yankee Clipper, and he wasn't getting paid extra to sign 2 things per item...1 price= one name only and it was Joe DiMaggio.

[jimjim]

I have been collecting baseballs with HOF inscription for sometime now. I have pretty much most of the guys who would include HOF except for a few of the high priced ones. Unfortunately, I am considering stopping collecting baseballs with HOF, as the prices for the new guys are out of hand. I have everybody with HOF including the 2014 class except Mantle, Drysdale, Gehringer, and a few others. The guys in the 2015 class have crazy high prices, which I cannot stomach paying. I was watching three auctions last night on eBay for John Smoltz, Randy Johnson, and Pedro Martinez. All of these balls were recently signed at MAB shows with HOF 15. The total for all three at the final hammer was $500. That is just too much for me to justify. I will continue to collect the HOF plaque postcards, at least I don't have to pay for the inscription fee!