Aaron 714 Lineup card

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by Topnotchsy

Hey all,

Heritage has a lineup card from Hank Aaron's 714th homerun up at auction now. The lineup card comes from a staffer on the Braves, is signed by Aaron etc.

The issue I'm wondering about is that there is a second lineup card (one that sold a few years back at Lelands) that also appears to be from the same game. The Lelands one is said to have been Mathew's personal copy. (The ink version usually goes to the umpire).

In looking them over, one thing that jumps out is that in the Heritage listing, it is clearly Mathews signature, while the Lelands one has someone else's signature. If you look at other lineup cards from the era (I have one from the end of 1973, though don't seem to have a scan on my computer) I have never seen another lineup card where Mathews himself signed it. Over the years it was somewhat common for manager's to have someone else on the staff fill out and sign the lineup card for them (Durocher did so from time to time as an example). From all the lineup cards I've seen from that era (not a ton, but a couple of others) it seems like Mathews at least fairly consistently had someone else signing.

Looking at the lineup cards here, the one up at Heritage is written in the same hand as other lineup cards from the era (some times they were in print and at times script, but my guess is that it was all the same person).

There are a range of possibilities here. It is known that for Ripken's record setting game they filled out extra lineup cards. I can't see that being the case here since if so I'd assume all would have been signed by Mathews, and with Aaron's HR's, there was no way to know which game he would tie the record.

My gut feeling therefore, is that after the game, given the significance of the record tying homerun, another lineup card was written and Mathews signed it.

Not sure whether this is right, and not sure how I feel about it. Was hoping to get some thoughts/opinions from others. I collect lineup cards and this and the 715 one would have been grail items for me if I had the confidence that they were used in the course of the actual game.

FWIW, Jeff I would agree with your comments above.
Even though the lineup card offered by Heritage looks nice, I would agree that it was done in addition to the one used in the actual game.

[roarfrom34]

For the sake of comparison, this is the one that was purported to be from the game where Aaron hit Home Run #715

[rlevy]

Jeff, this is strange. Looking at the one in Lelands, their description mentions that, although not pictured, they also included in the lot the line-up card for the Reds. Whenever I have acquired line-up cards from a noteworthy game, they included both teams. If you were a manager or the umpire, why wouldn't you just keep the extra slip of paper from a game as important as this one?
Dugout cards are usually sold for just one team since they may not have had access to the other teams dugout, but from my experience official line-up cards for major games are usually sold in pairs.

We may never know the correct answer, but I lean more to the Lelands cards as the ones from the game.

Rick

[Topnotchsy]

Originally Posted by roarfrom34

For the sake of comparison, this is the one that was purported to be from the game where Aaron hit Home Run #715

Bill, I’ve never seen that before. Was that ever sold at public auction?

Heritage has a lineup card up from the 715th HR game. I didn’t mention it since I didn’t have one to contrast with. Thanks for posting this.

[roarfrom34]

Jeff...

I can't answer that although the only thing I can tell you is that it is currently in the possession of the MLB Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

Bill

[Topnotchsy]

Originally Posted by roarfrom34

Jeff...

I can't answer that although the only thing I can tell you is that it is currently in the possession of the MLB Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

Bill

Bill, makes a ton of sense. Is it an image that can be found online (and if so can you send a link?) I've been searching and haven't been able to find it.

Thanks!

[roarfrom34]

Jeff:

The photo I shared is from a 1993 book entitled "Baseball Archaeology," (pg. 111) which shows photos of memorabilia from both private collections and the HOF.

I'm not sure if you've been to Cooperstown lately, but the Hall has a nice sized Hank Aaron exhibit and I've seen the lineup card on display there as well.

Here is a blog which shows a photo of it there too:

https://www.johnbudge.com/blog?category=Travel

[Topnotchsy]

Originally Posted by roarfrom34

Jeff:

The photo I shared is from a 1993 book entitled "Baseball Archaeology," (pg. 111) which shows photos of memorabilia from both private collections and the HOF.

I'm not sure if you've been to Cooperstown lately, but the Hall has a nice sized Hank Aaron exhibit and I've seen the lineup card on display there as well.

Here is a blog which shows a photo of it there too:

https://www.johnbudge.com/blog?category=Travel

Thank you. That's really helpful.

It seems very clear to me that the lineup cards that are not the ones used in the game.