Louis f sockalexis autographed ball

[Lordstan]

Perhaps "Compliments Louis Socalexis" references that the ball was given to the original owner by him. Could there be a small "of" written there as well that is hard to see or was ruined by shellac?

[Caseyatbat]

Here's my two cents - I think the signature needs to be ruled out by exemplars, not by assuming he was not in the public eye anymore and that singles were nearly non existent at that time. Also he may have had advanced penmanship but that does not mean he didn't print his name on occasion. I can say with absolute confidence that many players during that time period neatly printed their names on baseballs rather than using cursive penmanship. To be honest I would go as far as to say it was common for players to print their names on baseballs in the late 1800s early 1900s. I think in this case the best way to determine if that is Sockalexis signature would be to find other examples of his printed handwriting. The ball and ink certainly look period so it is worth researching IMO. The way it was signed with the "Compliments" and "From" certainly suggest that Sockalexis signed it rather than someone just writing his name.

[prewarsports]

I think taking the probability of something actually occuring into account when authenticating autographs is a good place to start as well as looking at handwriting examples. For example, it is common today for basketball players to sign shoes. Do you think Honey Russell or James Naismith was ever asked to sign a sneaker in 1930? So if one came up you should be VERY skeptical before you even get into handwriting analysis. It is a modern thing and single signed baseballs did not occur with even the rarest frequency until the WWI era. You are right about printed signatures, but even those did not start popping up until years after Sockalexis had left the game.

Sockalexis was living on an Indian reservation and working logging camps pretty much since he left the minor leagues, around 1902. I dont think a true "single signed" baseball exists in the entire hobby from before 1902 of anyone. If there is one, I am not aware of one, it just didn't happen. Even ten years later they were rare, but they existed as display pieces at bars and restaurants etc, but almost never signed to fans.

[packs]

Originally Posted by Caseyatbat

Here's my two cents - I think the signature needs to be ruled out by exemplars, not by assuming he was not in the public eye anymore and that singles were nearly non existent at that time. Also he may have had advanced penmanship but that does not mean he didn't print his name on occasion. I can say with absolute confidence that many players during that time period neatly printed their names on baseballs rather than using cursive penmanship. To be honest I would go as far as to say it was common for players to print their names on baseballs in the late 1800s early 1900s. I think in this case the best way to determine if that is Sockalexis signature would be to find other examples of his printed handwriting. The ball and ink certainly look period so it is worth researching IMO. The way it was signed with the "Compliments" and "From" certainly suggest that Sockalexis signed it rather than someone just writing his name.

I don't think "From" or "Compliments" means anything more than the baseball came from Sockalexis, not that it was signed by him. As a previous poster suggested, the ball is probably associated with him in some way versus signed by him.

It was not common for highly educated players to print their names. Look at any Christy Mathewson signature of your choosing. He attended Bucknell. Take a look at Eddie Collins' signatures. He attended Columbia. Sockalexis attended Notre Dame and Holy Cross. This was a highly educated guy in a time when people barely made it out of grammar school.

[JoeDfan]

Echoing what prewarsports said about his handwriting being very nice...