Need help to ID this 1942 baseball autograph!

[HexsHeroes]

. . .

Gordon Pixley had a W-L record of 4-10 with Class B Allenton, in 1941 (his last year of minor league play?). ERA just under 5.0. Not numbers that one might generally expect leads to a young pitcher an invitation to Spring Training with a major league team. Still very early in WWII so lots of major league talent still available. Since 1941 appears to be his last year of professional baseball, it makes me wonder if Gordon Pixley possibly entered the armed services either in 1942 or thereabouts.

[muggsy]

Originally Posted by HexsHeroes

. . .

Gordon Pixley had a W-L record of 4-10 with Class B Allenton, in 1941 (his last year of minor league play?). ERA just under 5.0. Not numbers that one might generally expect leads to a young pitcher an invitation to Spring Training with a major league team. Still very early in WWII so lots of major league talent still available. Since 1941 appears to be his last year of professional baseball, it makes me wonder if Gordon Pixley possibly entered the armed services either in 1942 or thereabouts.

He was playing for a team affiliated with the Philadelphia Phillies at the time. It would be likely for any player under an affiliation would show up. Try-outs were relatively common too. It's not like it is now with Spring invites.
No way to know right now if he did. It doesn't even mean he played in any games, either.
Yes, it is likely he went to military service and it ended his baseball career as well.
I'm not even assuming the autograph is him. I'm looking for as many opinions to help ID it as possible. Do you have any opinion on who it COULD be? So far we only have Rixey, Priddy, Pixley, all entirely questionable.

[ATP]

Just some food for thought. I've owned a lot of these autograph albums. It's quite common that there are some oddball signatures in them that are baseball associated but not players. People like scouts, announcers, mascots, umpires, other members of the team like traveling secretary, etc. In addition, it's also common to find folks who were famous and happened to be at the game so they got the signature of them as well. And lastly, you also see random people signing the books, who aren't famous at all (or at least not to us anymore). I think you mentioned it being alone on a page? Was this the only signature that was alone on a page?

[muggsy]

That's true, and I do have a few managers, couple coaches, and STL traveling secretary Leo Ward, on a page w/ Billy Southworth. There are minor league players & players that never made the majors; which is more evidence it was ST. There are other names on pages by themselves; like Musial, Mort Cooper, Marty Marion, at least. No one in the book not affiliated with one of the baseball teams, though.

Another question is, how often is it the person would sign their last name only? We might have a first initial there? Or even a nickname?

[muggsy]

If you consider the pen swipe, I think the first letter could also be a J. The letter being called an X could easily be a Y. That'd give us -iyl-

But, I think the biggest thing here we've been overlooking is why a person would only sign one name? The first letter could be a first initial? But the next don't seem to be a capital for the last name then. Or maybe it's a 1 word nickname...

And, If this is a lower level player, or someone making their first autographs, you would think it would be a more classic cursive methodical signature; especially for the time. Seems like it'd be someone who's used to signing a lot of quick autographs.

[muggsy]

So with a little more guesswork, I think we can narrow it down to PHI or BSN.


While we're at it, I don't know which Boston Braves player this is either (under Phil Masi, above Al Javery)




EDIT: Identified as "Tom" Dunn. A well-known umpire.

[muggsy]

Originally Posted by muggsy

While we're at it, I don't know which Boston Braves player this is either (under Phil Masi, above Al Javery)

Thanks to another member that messaged me, we've identified this one as "Tom" Dunn a relatively well-known NL umpire at the time.

[chalupacollects]

No way am I an auto expert but could be Tetley or Tetler... Don't have old player books out to peruse but last 4 letters could be tler, tlez also.

Second letter more than likely an I if we all read second to last letter as an e... Another look takes me to Fietler with that bump before that T appearing as an e due to the slant...

Interesting puzzle, Could it be the owner of the book's name?

Dunno just trying to help...

[muggsy]

I agree it could be an 'r' as well, with just a tail he signs with. Could be -ler, -ley, -ly, and more. We also have to consider that the big slash could be an 'x' 'y' or even 't'. Does that next letter have to be an 'l'?

Here's another thing that is hard to see in the pic unless you zoom in is that the left-side is not a letter fading, it's a pen that stopped working. If you follow it through you can see it come down, loop back up again into a line, but the line that could even be the 'i'.
I noticed on the page there is also the scratching/indentation of trying to get a pen working. He didn't go back over, and probably never finished that first letter. It could be a P, R, B, J, Ji, L?.

So he likely never completed that first letter—and wrote that 'dot' and the rest of the name, with a new pen, or getting the pen working.

What still gets me most is that it's doubtful anyone would sign 1 name. I think there has to be an initial there, or else it's a nickname that would be well-known.

I'm hoping someone has as much interest in cracking this mystery as me, but I'm really doubting it. Any opinions are appreciated, at the least I think it's fun.

Originally Posted by muggsy

So with a little more guesswork, I think we can narrow it down to PHI or BSN.


While we're at it, I don't know which Boston Braves player this is either (under Phil Masi, above Al Javery)

Looks to me as Tom Dunn, and there was an NL umpire by that name from 1939-46. I then searched for an auto of his and found this:

http://www.ebay.ph/itm/Ziggy-Sears-a...-/110828707428

Sure looks like a match to me.

[muggsy]

Originally Posted by jdunevant

Looks to me as Tom Dunn, and there was an NL umpire by that name from 1939-46. I then searched for an auto of his and found this:

http://www.ebay.ph/itm/Ziggy-Sears-a...-/110828707428

Sure looks like a match to me.

Yep, I agree. This one we concluded is definitely Tom Dunn. He was a relatively well-known umpire at the time too. Thank you for the confirmation.

Now it's only that 1 that needs to be identified.

Gordon Pixley is the leading suspect. But he is questionable still anyway.

[muggsy]

Someone on another forum somehow found his yearbook from 9 years earlier with his signature.
We're going with a match.



I'm 90% sure the autograph is Gordon Pixley.