Key autographs from postwar sets?

[earlywynnfan]

Can anyone fill a non-card collector in on why the forster and Doug Flynn are tough?

[Cooptown]

Originally Posted by earlywynnfan

Can anyone fill a non-card collector in on why the forster and Doug Flynn are tough?

Here's a post from Kaneen on SCN about the Flynn card:

Last weekend I attended an annual charity event in Lexington, KY hosted by Doug Flynn and Johnny Bench. The event featured a banquet and auction with several hundred people and lots of celebrities raising money for Childrens Charities of the Bluegrass. http://www.childrenscharitybg.com

During the live auction, with Johnny Bench serving as auctioneer, one of the leaders of the organization came up on stage and handed Bench 4 1986 Topps Doug Flynn cards. Doug was "ambushed" and had no idea what was about to happen. Bench told the audience that this was Flynn's final major league card in a Tigers uniform and that Doug had never signed them. He then said, "Tonight we're going to raise some money for charity and Doug is going to sign these for the 4 highest bidders."

Doug was stunned (and so was I) by what was taking place. The bidding got to $400 and Bench stopped and asked the 4 high bidders if they would each give $400 to have one signed. They all said they would, and so the bidding stopped and Doug signed the 4 cards. Johnny Bench himself purchased one of the cards, and the other 3 were bought by some of Doug's friends and leaders of the charity, including the guy who had brought the cards to the event. Basically, Doug had no choice but to sign them, or face looking like a schmuck for refusing to do this for the charity.

As I sat there thinking about what had just happened, I was kicking myself for not purchasing one of the cards. It seemed a shame to me that none of these cards would end up in the hands of a collector who knew the significance of the card. So, as the event ended I approached Doug and asked if he would be willing to sign a 5th card if I were to make the same donation. He told me they didn't have any more cards, but I explained that I just happened to have one with me...lol. He asked the other 4 winners if they would mind, and they said no, so he then signed a 5th card for me. I asked him to inscribe "1 of 5" on the card, indicating that it was one of only 5 that he signed.

I then explained to Doug that I was a veteran collector and that there were many urban legends about this card on collector's websites, etc. I asked if he would be willing to let me interview him on video about the history of the card, why he had never signed it, and his take on what happened at this event. He agreed, and so the next day at the golf tournament I interviewed Doug for about 5 minutes about the card. He gave me his blessing to post that interview online, and it can be seen here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UW2xI4IgbAQ

Another poster on SCN posted this prior to the above post:

At the closing of Cinergy Field in Cincinnati a couple of weeks ago I ran into Flynn at a Hotel. As I talked to him, I couldn't help but ask what the deal was with that encounter we'd had last year, and why he wouldn't sign that card for the kid. Doug told me that it had to do with a charity thing he had planned to do with that card to help out a minister. He was going to sign 5 of them to help raise money in an auction, but before the charity event came off, the minister died. He never signed the cards, and still won't do it.

[7nohitter]

Awesome video! Very cool to get the player's insight into the collecting world!
Thanks for posting!!

[dgo71]

Originally Posted by earlywynnfan

Can anyone fill a non-card collector in on why the forster and Doug Flynn are tough?

Forster was out of baseball after '86 and I had heard he was basically homeless for a while, living in an RV and bouncing between the US and Canada. I know at one point he was tracked down by a super-collector who had an impressive run of signed sets, but I don't think he got more than a handful of cards signed, and most were absorbed into collections immediately afterwards. I don't think it's as rare as the Howser from the same set, but it's definitely a toughie.

Another toughie from the same era is Joe DeSa. His only MLB cards were the 1986 Topps and Donruss issues. DeSa passed away in a car accident in December of 1986, and played exclusively in AAA that season. He did have the whole year to sign the card but it's still a tough find considering there weren't hundreds of minor league graphers in those days.

Steve Bechler is another toughie on his later 2002 and 2003 issues. He passed away in Spring Training of '03 and cards that came out the previous offseason had a window of only a few weeks (barring TTM requests) to be signed.

[woods1999]

Originally Posted by dgo71

Forster was out of baseball after '86 and I had heard he was basically homeless for a while, living in an RV and bouncing between the US and Canada. I know at one point he was tracked down by a super-collector who had an impressive run of signed sets, but I don't think he got more than a handful of cards signed, and most were absorbed into collections immediately afterwards. I don't think it's as rare as the Howser from the same set, but it's definitely a toughie.

Another toughie from the same era is Joe DeSa. His only MLB cards were the 1986 Topps and Donruss issues. DeSa passed away in a car accident in December of 1986, and played exclusively in AAA that season. He did have the whole year to sign the card but it's still a tough find considering there weren't hundreds of minor league graphers in those days.

Steve Bechler is another toughie on his later 2002 and 2003 issues. He passed away in Spring Training of '03 and cards that came out the previous offseason had a window of only a few weeks (barring TTM requests) to be signed.

Forster did a private signing back in 2012 for $30 a card. ALOT of collectors got their setters done during this signing. I personally got my 78 and 87 topps done.