Houston Colt .45 Autograph?

[bobw]

From an auction from 2018, a clearer image of a different ball

[Case12]

I believe it. I had to dig a lot to find another like it. Ken W. Johnson. Must be early signature from his Phillies days in the 50's. Thank you very much! Amazing mystery solved!

[Steve D]

Originally Posted by Case12

I believe it. I had to dig a lot to find another like it. Ken W. Johnson. Must be early signature from his Phillies days in the 50's. Thank you very much! Amazing mystery solved!

Question:

You say Ken W. Johnson; but, The Colt 45's player was Ken T. Johnson.

There were two Ken Johnsons.

Ken Travis Johnson played from 1958-1970 for the A's, Reds, Colt 45's, Braves, Yankees, Cubs & Expos.

Ken Wandersee Johnson played from 1947-1952 for the Cardinals, Phillies & Tigers.


Steve

[Steve D]

OK, I believe the signature is in fact, Kenneth Wandersee Johnson, as evidenced by these two documents I have found:





So, whoever made the baseballs, put the wrong Ken Johnson's facsimile signature on the ball. That explains why it is so different from the signatures from Ken (T) Johnson of the Colt 45's.

Steve

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Entirely correct. I'm sure the Autographed Ball Co. may have made similar mistakes with the two Don Lepperts, Bill Henrys, Bob Millers, Ken Hunts, etc. I can't recall offhand, but I know Topps did the same thing.

[Case12]

So, the signature on the ball is not Ken T. Johnson of the colts?. Weird twist -

Side note: Ken T. Johnson was the only MLB player to pitch a no-hitter, and still lose....

[Case12]

Fyi on how they did fax balls....Thanks for pointing me to the Autographed Ball Company.....

The Autographed Ball Company was founded in 1947 by Richard B. (Dick) Culler in High Point, North Carolina. Culler played baseball in the major leagues from 1936 to 1949, for the Philadelphia A's, Chicago White Sox, Boston Braves, Chicago Cubs, and New York Giants. Dick Culler had invented a technique to stamp facsimiles of players' signatures on baseballs, so team-autographed balls could be mass-produced. It allowed a baseball to be hand-stamped with a spherical stamp six times, once for each panel on the ball

A joint venture with ex teammate Billy Jurges, the company licensed the use of players' signatures on the basis of one cent apiece for each ball sold. The company sold the balls through concession stands in big-league parks and also sold them through the mail. The standard contract allowed the Autographed Ball Company to reproduce the players signature on team baseballs that were to be sold to the general public. The ballplayers were required to provide four separate signature examples at the base of the contract, for use to create a die to stamp the autograph on a baseball.

Producing replica team autographed baseballs for almost 70 years, the Autographed Ball Company went out of business in 2014. These baseballs provided a history of the game unequaled by any other product. The balls were produced with current team rosters and reflected midseason call ups and trades. Team Balls made in April, can be completely different by October. The autograph dyes used for the baseballs were created at the time the order was placed. They did not keep printed balls in stock from a previous order.